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CHARACTER AxND Oli 



OF 



WILLIAM LANGLAND. 



AS SHOWN IN 



uT 



riie Vision of AVilliam Concernine Fiers the Plowman.' 



THESIS 

PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE COLLEGE OF 

NEW JERSEY FOR THE DEGREE OF 

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY. 



BY 
EDWIN M. HOPKINS, A. M., 

Professor of Rhetoric and English Language 
IN THE 

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS. 



REPRINTED FROM THE KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY 
FOR APRIL, 1894. 



CHARACTER AND OPTIONS 



OP 



WILLIAM LANGLAND. 



AS SHOWN IN 



'The Vision of AVilliam Concernino- Piers the Plowman." 



THESIS 

PRESENTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE COLLEGE OF 

NEW JERSEY FOR THE DEGREE OF 

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY. 



EDWIN IVifHOPKINS, A. M., 

Professor of Rhetoric and English Language 
IN THE 

UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS. 



REPRINTED FROM J'HE KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY 
FOR APRIL, 1894. 



,^"^4 






GIFT 
IIRS. V/OODflOW VJlUSOh 



\ 



Contents. 

The SpENE OP the Poem. 

Relation to central subject of inquiry 234 

1/ Why the poem was written 235 

Relation to author's life 235 

Date of Langland's coming to London 236 

Occupation of his earlier years 237 

Inferences from allusions to places. 238 

"The Content of the Poem. 

1. Scientific Information 239 

The Elements 240 

Alchemy and general sciences 240 

Astronomy and Astrology 241 

Medicine 241 

Hygiene 242 

The Physician 242 

Grammar 242 

2. Political and Social Theories. 

Classes of Society 243 

King 244 

Knights ! 245 

Commons 245 

Plowmen 246 

Clergy. .' 247 

Economic Theories '. 247 

3. Theological and Religious Teaching. 

a. The Supernal and the Infernal. 

The Trinity 249 

God 250 

The Holy Spirit 250 

Christ as Piers Plowman 251 

Christ the Son 255 

IV^other of Christ 256 

Heaven 256 

Purgatory 257 

The Evil Spirit 257 

Hell 258 

b. Man. Duties and Transgressions. 

Place in Creation 258 

General Duties. ' 359 

Active and Contemplative Life 259 

The Poor 259 

The Rich . . . , 260 

King 260 

Knights 260 

Pope... .* 260 

Cardinals 261 

Bishops 261 

Parochial Clergy 261 



11. CONTEXTS. 

Clergy as Scholarship 2(32 

Friars 262 

Hermits 203 

Pilgrims and Palmers 264 

Nuns 264 

Lollers ' 26 i 

Merchants 264 

Lawyers 26 i 

0. Doctrines of Holy Church. 

The Church. 265 

Sin 265 

Salvation 266 

Baptism 267 

Confession, Penance, Absolution 267 

Dowel, Dobet, Dobest 26S 

Our Neighbor 269 

Marriage * 260 

Unbelief 269 

Predestination 269 

Charity 270 

Cardinal Virtues 270 

Communion 270 

4. Lungland's Philosophy. 

Scholasticism 271 

^ Langland's mental habit 272 

The Mental Faculties ... 272 

Anima, or Life 273 

Conscience ' 273 

Wit 274 

Reason 275- 

Free Will 275 

The Form of the Poem. 

Visions 276 

Allegory 277 

Quotations 277 

Similes and Proverbs 277 

Parables 278 

Puns 278 

Structure of Allegory. 278 

Allegorical Names 278 

Obscurities 279 

The Sperit of the Poem. 

Influences upon it 279 

Purpose 280 

Earnestness 280 

Insight 280 

The Prophecies; 281 

Independence and Courage 281 

Conservatism 282 

Imaginativeness and Originality 282 

Attitude towards Women 2S2 

Wit, Satire, Humor 283 

Descriptive Power 283 

Scholarship 285 

The Value of the Poem. 

Past influence, and present estimate 288^ 



Bibliog;raphy. 



Langland. " The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman,"' and '• Richard the 
Redeless." Edited by Rev. W. W. Skeat. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1886. Vol. I., Texts A, 
B. and C. Vol. II., Notes and Glossary. 

Langland. '• Piers Plowman." Edition published for the Early English Text Society. 
London, Truebner & Co., 1867-1884. Vols. I-IV. 

Gower, " Confessio Amantis." Edited by R. Pauli London, Bell & Daldy, 1857, 
Vols. I-III. 

Chaucer. Poetical Works. Edited by Dr. R. Morris. London, Bell & Sons, 1883. 
Vols. I-IV. 

LounsburJ^ Studies in Ch.auc8r. N3W York, Harper & Brothers. Vols. I-III. 

Guenther. Englisches Leben im Vierzehnten Jahrhundert. Leipzig, Hesse & Becker, 
1889. 

Hunt. Ethical Teachings in Old English Literature. New York, Funk & Wagnalls, 
1892. 

Ten Brink. Early English Literature. New York. Holt & Co., 1889. 

Ten Brink. English. Literature, Wyclif to tlie Renai:jsance. New York, Holt & Co., 
1893. 

Morley. English Writers. London and New York, Cassell & Co.. 1887-90. Vols. I-VI. 

Marsh. Origin and History of the English Language. N. Y. Scribners, 1885. 

Marsh. Lectures on the English Language. N. Y., Scribners, 1885. 

Freeman. Norman Conquest. Oxford, Clarendon Press. 1873-79. Vols. I-VI. 

Green. History of the English People. New Yox'k. Harper & Brothers. (Undated.) 
Vols. I-IV. 

Freeman. Article " England'' in Encyclopedia Britannica. 

Champneys. History of English. New York, MacMillan & Co. 1893. 

Saunders. Chaucer's Cantei'bury Tales. London, J. M. Dent & Co., 1889. 



Introduction. 

The special purpose of this investigation is to give an exposition of 
the character and teaching of him whose work preeminently, as com- 
pared with that of other writers of the fourteenth century, reflects the 
opinions of the common people. Chaucer, Gower, and Wyclif rep- 
resent each a distinct phase of life as well as of thought; but all are 
on a plane removed from that of Langland. He too was a scholar, 
but a humble one, and he remained ever in close sympathy with the 
humble; his ideas were either the ideas he received from them, or 
those which they were eager to receive from him, as is attested by 
the popularity of his work when written. For this reason the results 
herein arrived at may be supposed to index in some sort the mental 
life of English people of the lower ranks. 

The references to texts A, B, and C, respectively, are in every 
case to the parallel edition of the three texts as published by the 
Clarendon Press, i886, in the first of the two volumes of that edition. 
Volume 11. of the same edition is referred to as the ''Notes." R 
refers to the poem '' Richard the Redeless" as included in Volume I. 
of the same edition. The other references are given in full, or are 
self explanatory. 

(233) KAN. UNIV. QUAR. VOL. II. NO. 4, APR. 1894. 



234 Kansas university quarterly 



Character aid Opions of Williai Lailait. 

Author of ^^ Piers the Plowman.^^ 



The Scene of the Foem. 

Relation to Before taking up the central subject of investiga- 

the central . ^ . . • i , r i 

snbject of in- tion, 1 Wish to consider the scene of the poem 

quiry. and its relation to Langland's life; because, in this 

case, such an investigation promises to throw some light upon the 

unsettled question as to whether Langland ever received a university 

training, and thus partly to account for the nature of his thinking and 

teaching. 

So far as the known facts of his life are concerned, they may be 
summarized in a few words. These facts are that Langland was born 
of respectable parentage at Cleobury Mortimer in Shropshire at about 
1332; that his father, Stacy de Rokayle, afterward removed to the 
parish of Shipton-under-Wychwood in Oxfordshire; that the child 
was baptized in infancy, sent early to school, and loved it so that he 
determined to be a student all his life, and a scholar according to his 
opportunities. Here rises the question suggested, as to the nature of 
those opportunities, and whether access to one of the universities was 
among them. Professor Ten Brink believes it "most probable" that 
Langland received a university training, perhaps at Oxford.* If this 
were true, the poem should exhibit, in addition to a technical know- 
ledge of certain subjects, a reflection of university life in allusions and 
scenes described. 

But whatever may be the conclusion, after our investigation is com- 
pleted, as to the nature and extent of Langland's training, it is certain 
that he became a student, and eventually a humble member of the 
secular clergy; that he married, and spent his life in performing the 
duties of his profession, studying the Vulgate and the world about 
him, drawing conclusions from the one, and applying them to the 
other. 

This seems a simple enough matter, but Langland's conclusions and 
his manner of enforcing them were not as those of other men. The 

*Ten Brink. Early Eng. Lit., p. 352. 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 235 

church of the fourteenth century was a huge machine. Not in organ- 
ization and government only, but in its methods of preaching and 
interpreting the Scriptures all was formal and mechanical; the 
preacher spoke according to rule, often anxious only for the com- 
pletion of his task, and careless whether the seed thus idly sown 
should spring up or wither away. Careless whether his flock did or 
did not follow his teaching, the churchman became careless in regard 
to following it himself. To formalism succeeded hypocrisy, and open 
neglect even of formal duties; the church preyed upon the people, 
and became in turn a refuge for those who sought to escape hardship 
and make a living easily. 

"ivhy the po- Langland entered the church because he preferred 

em was Avrit- the contemplative to the active life. His studies 

revealed to him not so much new teachings as the 
fact that the old ones had not been properly applied and enforced. 
He dared to speak, but the number of those whom he might address 
personally was very small; and had Langland been simply the faith- 
ful priest, we should know as little of him as of a thousand others 
who have kept the church spiritually alive, when it was most corrupt. 
But his longing to set forth the truth was not to be satisfied by the 
performance of daily duty alone; in his otherwise unoccupied hours, 
his recreation was to write what was in his thoughts, at first, doubt- 
less, without thinking that this work of his leisure was to possess value 
or importance, but afterward in the full realization of all that it 
might accomplish. Thus we may interpret his statement that the 
work is the solace of his lighter hours, through which he strengthens 
himself for his more serious duties, though he would willingly forsake 
it if he knew how better to employ the time (B, XH., 20 ff.) But we 
may detect a growing feeling that the work is worthy, that it is in har- 
mony with his own teaching as to the nature of Dobest; and the 
omission of even an implied excuse from the final revision of the 
poem may show his conviction that through it he had accomplished 
his true lifework. 

The three several versions of the poem belong, it 
author's life. ^^ ^^^^ established, to the years 1362-63, 1377, and 

about 1393. It would seem that we should be able 
to learn the complete story of the author's life from versions so widely 
separated in time, and so full of detail and incident; but instead, we 
are scarcely able to tell anything in addition to what has been stated, 
except that he lived in London for the greater part of the time. 
Local allusions are remarkably few, considering the length of the 
poem; a fact due to the allegorical structure of the composition; and 
of these local allusions, fewer still, except those which pertain to the 



2^6 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

city of London, are of such a character as to indicate that the author 
had personally visited the places mentioned. 

Date of com- "^^ interesting question may be asked, the discus- 

ing to L<oiidon. sion of which must be largely speculative, as to the 
scene and occupation of Langland's life before he became a resident 
of London. That he had become somewhat familiar with London 
before the earliest version of his poem (Text A) was written, is 
scarcely open to doubt, though were it not for the exceedingly circum- 
stantial and graphic character of a single portion (A, V., 146 ff.), 
describing a London tavern, it would seem that his familiarity with 
the city was not so great as to indicate long residence. To me. Text 
A seems to breathe a spirit of the country; with the exception men- 
tioned, its London allusions are general in character, and might be 
based upon common report, while many of the characters described 
were to be met with very often in the country as well as in the city. 
Perhaps the safest conclusion is that Langland had but recently come 
to London, and that he was still dominated by the influence of the 
earlier country life. 

In the C-text is found the positive statement, ''I haue lyved in 
London meny longe jeres" (C, XVIL, 286). It happens that the 
corresponding passage in the B-text (B, XV., 148), states, ''I haue 
lyved in londe, quod I, my name is Longe Wille;" and while this 
may be and usually is interpreted as an introduction of the author's 
own name into the text, — an interpretation justified by precedent, 
and by other examples in the text itself of playing upon words, — it 
may also be interpreted as referring to a life in the country, and as 
meaning that Langland had not yet lived in London so very many 
years. Still there is no further evidence to show whether he 
had lived there more or less than fifteen years, (interval from A-textto 
B-text), and thus to fix the date of his arrival as earlier or later than 
the A-text, except such evidence as may be gathered from the gen- 
eral atmosphere of the A-text. I conclude that he came to London 
at about the time that the A-text was written, certainly not much 
earlier; and that he married at about the same time, as his daughter 
had arrived at years of understanding when the B-text was written. 
(B, XVIIL, 426). 

The standpoint of the A-text is certainly in the country. The author 
places himself there three times in as many visions, (A, prologue, 10: 
A, v., 6: A, IX., 58), and the action of the poem is also in the coun- 
try, with the exception of certain episodes. The ''field full of folk," 
and the marriage of Meed, are in the country; the trial of Meed 
transports us to Westminster, but we return again to the field of folk, 
the preaching of Reason, and the appearance of Piers Plowman, who 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 237 

could not well be other than a countryman. The penitents are from 
both city and country. 

The chief distinction between the A-text and the C-text in respect 
to scene is, that in the latter London dominates. Further, in the 
C-text, the author awakes in London after going to sleep on Malvern 
Hills (C,VI., i), goes to sleep again in a London church (C, VL, io8), 
and wakes again in time to see the sun set in the south from Malvern 
Hills (C, X,, 294). This inconsistency, due to the interpolation of 
new matter, would seem to furnish some evidence touching the place 
of composition of each version; but the value of the evidence is 
destroyed by the fact that the B-text, which was evidently written after 
the London residence had begun, is here in acccord with the A-text, 
instead of the C-text, as it should be if the change noted were due to 
a change of residence. 

Though the A-text has more to do with the country than with the 
city, the argument that it might have been written before Langland 
had become thoroughly familiar with London has to offset it the fact 
that the allusions to places in London are more specific than those 
to places in the country, and more numerous as well. Malvern Hills 
maybe definitely located; and the field full of folk may be near them; 
so too may be the half acre of Piers Plowman; but supposition is not 
certainty. On the other hand, Westminster is a definite locality, and 
so are the various places whose representatives meet Glutton at the 
tavern, though the tavern itself is not named. 

Though we may not therefore fix definitely the time when Langland 
came to London, it seems evident that in 1362 he was acquainted 
with both city and country; that he loved the country rather than the 
city, an allegiance still cherished fifteen years after; and that he had 
not long forsaken the Malvern Hills for the London streets. 
Occni)ation of ^^ Langland spent much of the earlier part of his life 

earlier years. in the country, as seems reasonable, it becomes of 
interest to ask how it was spent. He shows entire 
familiarity with the plowman's life, his duties, and even his food at the 
several seasons of the year. No others of his descriptive passages are 
so minute and so evidently accurate as those relating to rustic life and 
labor. There is, I believe, more than a possibility that the boy Will, 
before his assumption of clerical dignity, had formed a practical 
acquaintance with the duties of the farm and the harvest field, and 
had foundithem not at all to his taste. The question addressed to 
him by Reason (C, VI. , 12), ''"Canstow serven,' he seide, ' or syngen 
in a churche?' " might indicate that, at the time Langland had in mind, 
he had not yet become in any sense a priest; though before the end 
of the passage is reached, he is speaking of his long clothes, and 



238 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

declares that he lives in London. But he has so often shown a 
facility in making sudden transitions of thought, that we may still be 
permitted to think that the reference in the beginning of the passage 
is to an early time spent in a sort of vagabondage. He also accuses 
himself elsewhere, and in a very sweeping way, of having devoted 
altogether too much time to the world, the flesh, and the devil. But 
on the other hand, the passage quoted may mean only what is dis- 
tinctly implied in another (C, VL, 91), that Langland was at no time 
formally attached to priory or minster; and his self-accusation may 
be a natural expression from one who despises the things of the 
world. If this be the case, he probably obtained his knowledge of 
country life upon the farm held by his father, and by later inspection 
while journeying about in his long robe, as too many clerics were 
wont to do. The most that can be said is that there is a possibility 
that some of the days of his youth were wild and idle, and a proba- 
bility that others of them were spent in acquiring a practical know- 
ledge of seeds and seasons (C, XIII., 177-192), and of farming ope- 
rations in general (C, XXII). 

Inference ^^^ "^^^ attain to something more of certainty in 

from allusions regard to the scene of Langland's life and labors 

o p aces. taken as a whole. The total number of allusions to 

to places in England outside of London, as tabulated in Professor 
Skeat's index, is but sixteen; a surprisingly small number. These 
indicate a general acquaintance with the country lying between 
Shropshire and London, a territory that is very nearly the geograph- 
ical c-nter of England; and the places mentioned seldom lie far away 
from a line drawn from Langland's birthplace to London. Extended 
to the northwest, such a line would pass near Chester, and to the 
southeast, not far from Canterbury. A few names carry us from 
London northeastward into Norfolk; but these are of a general or 
proverbial character, not usually indicating actual acquaintance. It 
is otherwise with allusions to places between Shropshire andvLondon. 
There are also some rather specific references to places in Hampshire, 
southwest of London; while if we take account of the poem of 
''Richard the Redeless," Langland in 1399 had passed westward as 
far as Bristol. Apparently the greater part of his life was spent near 
London; the earlier part of it in a gradual moving down from the 
Malvern Hills to London; and perhaps its latest years in a journey 
westward. Without doubt the entire action of the poem we are 
to study, so far as that action lies in England, lies between and about 
London and the Malvern Hills; while of other parts of his country, 
Langland knew little, save by hearsay. 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 239 



The Content of the Poem. 

While materials for the history of Langland's outer life are very- 
scanty, as may appear from the preceding discussion, the mass of 
those bearing upon his inner or mental life is proportionately great, 
and to give a complete exposition of them would require a volume. 
The results which follow have been obtained, after tabulation, by 
endeavoring to compress into a few words the substance of many 
citations, and to substantiate each point by a single appropriate 
reference. 

I. SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION. 

Langland's attitude toward real and pretended science is less 
satirical than that of Chaucer, perhaps because Langland had given 
the subject less attention; still in speaking of the arts which pertain 
to magic, he does express considerable distrust. To the ''seven arts" 
which comprised the circle of scientific knowledge of his time, he 
twice refers (C, XII., 98; C, XIII., 93); but the character of his work 
would not indicate that he had been a very diligent student of any 
of these arts, except perhaps grammar. The seven arts mentioned 
are the trivium, — grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and the quadriv- 
ium, — music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy. 

It is evident that this circle of arts does not include all human 
knowledge, nor is it broad enough to cover all the learned allusions 
made by Langland himself. To make the classification more com- 
plete, it will perhaps be best to refer to the source from which popu- 
lar knowledge upon matters of science and philosophy was largely 
derived, the ''Secretum Secretorum " (Morley, English Writers, IV., 
227); a book which Langland appears not to have known. This 
work is summarized by Gower in the seventh part of the '' Confessio 
Amantis, " and his summary may answer our purpose. Knowledge is 
arranged in three classes, — Theoretic, Rhetoric, and Practic. 
Theoretic includes theology, physics, and mathematics; mathematics 
in its turn comprising arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy, 
or the quadrivium. Rhetoric includes grammar and logic, and 
Practic includes ethics, economics, and politics. 

Gower discusses the constitution of created things as if the subject 
belonged to mathematics rather than to physics. It is necessary also 
to find a place for alchemy and medicine in the scheme of knowledge 
before we can give a logical place to Langland's remarks upon those 
subjects. Perhaps the shortest road is this, that astronomy includes 
astrology; from astronomy, astrology, and geometry, comes alchemy; 
and medicine is the application of astronomy, astrology, geometry, 



240 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

and alchemy, to unfortunate human beings. Or medicine belongs to 
the geometrical and astronomical department of mathematics, where 
Gower discusses it; a conclusion according with that based upon 
Chaucer's description of the physician (Canterbury Tales, prologue, 
411 ff.).* 

The Elements. It appears that Langland had no clear idea of any 
system of knowledge. At least he utterly refused to be bound down 
by any received system upon any subject, whether because his 
knowledge of received systems was inexact, or because he cared more 
for the exactness of his metre and alliteration than for all the systems 
under the sun. For example, according to Gower and the " Secre- 
tum Secretorum, " the four elements of things created are earth, air, 
water, and fire, with a fifth element, oi-bis — the shell which surrounds 
all the others. Langland in one place gives them as earth, air, wind, 
and water (C, XL, 129), wherehemay be using air for ether, or the 
iieavenly fire (Skeat, Notes, p. 138), and is simply confused by 
different authorities. In another passage he deliberately drops out 
earth, and for a special purpose substitutes wit , making the list wit, 
water, wind, and fire (C, X., 56). 

-Lioiieiiiy and ^^ correspond to Gower's grave discussion of 

general soi- alchemy, and Chaucer's satirical one (Canon's Yeo- 
man's Tale), Langland has a brief and general passage 
whose subject is the sciences in general, and alchemy among the rest. 
(B, X. , 168 ff.). Dame Study in naming her accomplishments, states 
that she has taught logic and many other laws, trained Plato and 
Aristotle, educated children in grammar, and contrived tools for all 
kinds of crafts. Having thus placed the handicrafts on the roll of 
sciences, the dame turns her attention to more abstract subjects, and 
finds of them only Theology really worthy. Yet Theology has puzzled 
her ten score times; the more she mused thereon, the mistier it seemed, 
and the deeper she divined, the darker it became. In fact, she con- 
cludes, it is no science at all, but a soothfast belief, a matter of faith. 
Love is its cardinal doctrine, and there is no science under the sun so 
sovereign for the soul. Then, in comparison with Theology, the 
other sciences are briefly and finally disposed of as follows: — 

But astronomj' is an har(^ thing, and evil for to know, 
Geometry and geomancy are guileful of speech; 
Whoso thinketh to work with those two thriveth full late, 
For sorcery is the sovereign book that to the science belongeth. 
Yet there are contrivances in caskets of many men's making 
Experiments of alchemy the people to deceive — 



*See also Saunders" Caaueer's Cant. Tales, pp. 111-12.5. 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 241 

or as text A here reads (A, XL, 157), 

Experiments of alchemy of Albert's making; 

Necromanc}" and pyromanc}^ the devil to rise maketh. 
Text B continues — 

If thou think to Do Well, deal therewith never; 

All these sciences I myself subtled and ordained, 

And founded them first, folk to deceive. 

This condemnation of astrology and astronomy is 

Ast !• o 11 o m y ^^^ adhered to consistently throughout the poem. 
and astrology. . ^ 

Langland makes use himself of a warning from Sa- 
turn, though perhaps satirically (C, IX., 349); he expresses belief in 
the favorable influence of a constellation (C, XV., 30), and says that 
Grace teaches astronomers and philosophers to see and say what shall 
befall (C, XXII., 242); and conversely, the failure of predictions is 
ascribed to the evil deeds of the people, and their lack of faith (C, 
XVIII.,. 96 ff.). 

The greater number of allusions pertain to popular beliefs with 
reference to medicine, and to natural history; the latter doubtless 
derived from the Bestiaries, Latin and English, except some of the 
most ordinary facts of observation. There is a somewhat extended 
discussion of the habits of beasts and birds (B, XL, 326; C, XIV., 143 
if.), based partly on observation and partly on Aristotle at second- 
hand. Langland mentions the growing of precious stones (A, XL, 
12), the cricket's living in the fire, and the curlew on air (C, XVI., 
243); and in Richard the Redeless (Passus III), he tells how the 
hart, by swallowing an adder, renews its youth, and how young part- 
ridges forsake their foster mother for the true one. 

One of the prominent medical allusions is the men- 
Medicine, tion of triacle (treacle) or salve, the remed \- for poisons 
made from the flesh of vipers (Skeat, Notes, 227) 
suggesting the principle, Like cures like, which is fornulated else- 
where (C, XXL, 158). Precious stones cure diseases and poisons 
(B, 11. , 14).* Walnuts, if the shell and bitter bark be removed, will 
increase the strength and benefit the general health of oLl men ((!, 
XIIL, 144). The virtues of plasters were understood (C, XXIIL, 
314, 359), sleeping draughts were employed (C, XXIIL, 379), and 
many drugs were in use (C, XXIIL, 174). A full list of common dis- 
eases is given (C, XXIIL, 81) comprising fevers and fluxes, coughs 
and consumptions, heart spasms, cramps and toothaches, colds and 
catarrhs, running sores, boils and swellings, agues, ''frenzies and foul 
evils." Leprosy was not unknown (C, X., 179). More terrible than 



*C, IX.. 189. ''And lame men he leeched with lungs of beasts," probably means that the 
lungs were given for food. 



2 42 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

all was the plague, against which neither ''dias " nor drugs nor physi- 
cians might avail. 

Hunger is a better doctor than any physician (C, 
Hygiene. IX., 268 ff.), and often Langland gives evidence of 

faith in diet and hygiene that is refreshing, and not 
less so that it is based not upon learned treatises, but upon literal in- 
terpretation of the Scriptures, and upon common sense. He believes 
in labor and temperance for the physical health no less than for the 
spiritual; and if one labor and be temperate in all things, then, says 
Langland (C, IX., 293), — 

" — ich dar legge m3-n eres 

That Fvsvk shal hus forrede hodes for hus fode sulle, 
T li e I* li A' s i- " " 

And hus cloke of Calabre for hus communes legge. 

And be fayn, b\' my faith, his fysyk to lete, 
And lerne to labore with londe leste lyflode hym faile," 
And finally passing from satire to serious earnest, — 

"Ther aren meny luthere leches and leele leches fewe, 
Thei don men deye iborgh here drynkes er destyue hit wolde-. '" 
Langland doubts as does Chaucer, the efficiency of even the best of 
physicians, and regards them always with a lurking smile. There may 
be no hint of irreverence in the allusion to -'Nedde the fisicien" (A, 
VII., 170J, though the designation looks suspiciously like a modern 
nickname; or in the account of the conflict of age with a physician (C, 
XXIII., 176)— 

Eld aventured him on Life, and at last he hit 
A ph3"sician with a furred hood that he fell in a palsy, 
And there died that doctor ere three days after: — 
but the meaning certainly seems to be that the members of the learned 
fraternity were ornamental rather than useful. Elsewhere (C, XXIII., 
171) we learn that the doctors take gold, good won, and give in re- 
turn the imaginary protection of a glass hood. Langland has expressed 
himself more briefly than Chaucer upon this subject (C. T. , ProL, 
411-444), but not less to the point. 

Grammar. Langland's familiarity with the subject of grammar is 
indicated (C, IV., 335 ff.). He compares Bribery and Reward 
to the direct and indirect relations in grammar. The substance of 
this distinction is that reward is what one receives after duty done, 
that is after conformity to rule, divine or human, the former especi- 
ally; just as an adjective or substantive accords with its antecedent in 
gender, number, and case. The bribe is what is received through 
self-interest entirely, and lack of conformity to rule, such as is seen 
in the indirect grammatical relation, in which there is lack of agree- 
ment in number and case. The meaning of the term, "indirect rela- 
tion" is not clear; nor was it clear to the king, who states that 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 243 

''Englisch was it neuere," (C, IV., 343). The passage is chiefly of 
interest as showing that Langland was in his later years paying especial 
attention to the subject, perhaps in connection with the revision of 
his poem. The passage ends with a comparison of mankind to a sub- 
stantive, and of Deity to an adjective of ''three true terminations." 

Langland's interest in grammar is also shown in the B-text (B, XV., 
365); he there terms it the "ground of all" and complains that it no 
longer receives proper attention, unless from children: — no new clerks 
can versify fair, or formally endite, and not one among a hundred can 
construe an author in any language but Latin or English. In the 
corresponding passage in the C-text he omits the implied praise of 
French, and states only that none can now construe naturally what 
poets made. In both passages one detects that Langland was very 
proud of his own knowledge of the theory and practice of this science. 

2. POLITICAL AND SOCIAL THEORIES. 

As Langland's whole structure rests upon a moral basis, a difficulty 
arises in making a clear distinction between what is ethical and what 
is economic. The expressions of his political opinion have reference 
chiefly to the duties which the several classes of society owe each 
other in accordance with Scriptural law. "^ 

Classes of Langland's classification of society is fivefold, com- 
Society. prising king, knights, clergy, commons, and plowmen 
(B. Prol. 1 12-120). Their general relation to each other is specified 
as follows (Ibid): — 

Then came there a kin^, knighthood him led, 
Might of the commons made him to reign; 
And then came kind wit, and clerks he made 
' For to counsel the king, and the commons save. 

The king, and knighthood, and clergy as well, determined that the 
commons should provide for themselves, and presumably for the rest; 
and the commons therefore contrived crafts, and for profit of all 
ordained plowmen to till and labor. The king and the commons 
and kind wit the third shaped law and loyalty, that each might know 
his own. 

Text C (I, 139) varies this passage in a manner that is very sug- 
gestive. The king reigns not specifically by might of the commons, 
but "by much might of the men," which may be interpreted to mean 
knights instead of commons. Instead of the king, it is conscience 
and kind wit that with knighthood decide as to the first duty of the 
commons. Lastly, instead of establishing a separate class of plow- 
men, the commons simply make a plow, which presumably any of 



* Compare with the discussion of moral duties. 



244 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

them might use. I interpret this to mean that'in consequence of the 
jealousy existing between the king, Richard II., and the commons, 
and of the uprising of the lower classes under Wat Tyler, Langland, 
without changing his opinions, so modified this expression of them as 
to remove any cause of friction there may have been in his original 
blunt statement. 

The sub-classification of the clergy and commons in respect to rank, 
profession, or trade, is reasonably complete and minute. The most 
considerable list is given in the description of the field full of folk, (A, 
ProL). A general resume is as follows. The religious occupations, pro- 
fessions, or orders, comprise anchorites and hermits, pilgrims and 
palmers, the four orders of mendicant friars, pardoners, parish- 
priests, bachelors, bishops, cardinals, and the pope. The commons 
is resolved into the legal profession with its various grades and 
officers, — magistrates, sergeants, "sysours and somners, shereyves and 
here clerks, " beadles, bailiffs, advocates (cf. C, III., 59); merchants, 
petty tradesmen of all sorts, and handicraftsmen, as bakers, butchers, 
and brewsters many, woollen websters and weavers of linen, tailors, 
tanners, and tuckers also, masons, miners and delvers, cooks and 
taverners (A, ProL, 98-109). Then may be added those who live 
upon others; minstrels, beggars, jesters (A, Prol. , 32-40; cf. corre- 
sponding passages in B and C). 

King. The passage quoted (page 243) names as the funda- 
mental divisions of society, or the three estates, the nobility, the 
clergy, and the commons. The source of the royal power is laid 
down in language unmistakable. Then follow specific maxims for 
kingly guidance, besides the general teaching that may be gathered 
from the fable of the cat and the rats (B, ProL, 145), and from the 
poem of Richard the Redeless. 

Deriving his power from the commons, he owes to them, in return 
for service and obedience, "law, love, and lealty, " absolute impar- 
tiality (C, IV., 381), faithful observance of law (B, ProL, 140), and 
protection from all enemies. That is, he is recognized as a judge 
who must be both just and merciful (C, I., 152), an executive, a com- 
mander, and in some sense a lawmaker; though as to the latter point, 
it would appear that he may legislate for the commons by their cour- 
tesy rather than by right (B, ProL, 143). As executive, he may claim 
the help of the commons in enforcing the law, and may not easily suc- 
ceed without it ( C, v., 176). He may also claim of the commons 
financial support, but should rather ask than demand (C, XXII., 
467 ff. ). He is subject to the laws as well as charged with their 
execution, is responsible to the power that created him (the commons) 
in that he may forfeit their love and respect, though Langland hesi- 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAXD. 245 

tates to include the right to rule under things forfeitable; and finally 
he must be guided in all things by the law of Ood. 

Langland's disinclination to advance revolutiouary teaching is 
clearly shown in the fable of the cat and the rats. The rats (bur- 
gesses or upper classes) and the mice (lesser commons) have suffered 
most seriously from the interference of the cat (the king) with their 
rights of property and personal liberty. But the redress proposed is 
simply to secure a means of knowing in advance what the movements 
of the cat will be, ignoring the fact that it would be quite as easy to 
imprison the cat, or destroy him utterly, as to hang a bell on his neck. 
Finally a mouse reasons philosophically, in view of the difficulty of 
carrying out the proposed plan, that submission is best. A king may 
be bad, is the teaching, but if there were no king, or if his power were 
more restrained, his subjects might prey upon each other. Even a 
bad king will maintain peace at home, and will sometimes cease his 
domestic depredations to prey upon foreigners. 

While there is here implied a remonstrance against the impositions 
of the king (Richard II), Langland's complaint, is probably not so 
much against the enactments themselves as against those who carry 
them into effect. This is directly stated in Richard the Redeless. 
Courtiers, retainers, purveyors are all robbers, and the king's chief 
fault is failure to protect his people against his own creatures. 

Knights. Langland pays the order of knighthood the high compli- 
ment of making Christ a member of it, who jousted at Jerusalem in 
defense of humanity. It shares with royalty the duty of defending 
and protecting the commons against foes, trespassers, and even ani- 
mals and birds of prey (C, IX., 19-34). Courtesy and physical 
prowess characterize the knights, rather than intellectual ability; and 
their first duty is to maintain truth. "Truly to take and truly to 
fight is the profession and the pure order that appendeth to knights, 
and whoso passeth that point is apostate of knighthood" (C, II., 96 
ff. ). Knighthood was established in heaven, and the punishment of 
Lucifer may serve as a warning to the knight who forsakes his high 
trust. Only those may receive it rightly who have land and lineage, 
and are otherwise worthy (C, XIV., iii). Langland is at one with 
Chaucer in the respect accorded to the order; but this respect does 
not prevent him from revealing the fact that there are knights base 
and unworthy, who have purchased their spurs by means of money or 
influence, and not through any knightly merit (C, VL, 72-79). 

C01111U0118. The general status of of the commons has already been 
defined, in discussing that of the king. Between commons 
and king stand the magistrates, ministers of the king to interpret the 
law and enforce its penalty, yet chosen from the commons (A, III., 



246 KANSAS UNIVERSliY QUARTERLY. 

67). To their position they should rise through an educational 
qualification, we may infer; since Langland apparently believes that this 
is precedent to any exercise of power, even rightful power. It is the 
duty of the uneducated rank and file, those who do not understand 
T.atin, to serve and suffer, to accept the words of the king as their 
law, and to put all their trust in him. Through Latin lies the road of 
aspirants to participation in government, first in an advisory capacity, 
and then perhaps in a judicial one; though a judicial position is 
secured through the will of others rather than one's own inclination. 
Those who are, through education, competent to act, will see the 
folly of hasty and inconsiderate action. 

The chief good of the commons is, then, to be secured by their 
resigning the governing power into the hands of natural or chosen 
rulers, and by fulfilling the precepts of the moral law. The seat of 
the advisory and judicial power is indicated with reasonable clear- 
ness, but it is not so clearly indicated what Langland believes to be 
the seat of legislative power. He does not say outright that it 
belongs either to king or commons, bdt he seems to imply that the 
power resides in the First Estate (king and nobles) by sufferance of 
the commons; and this accords with the statement made by Freeman 
(art. England, Enc. Brit., VIIL), that at this time the form of legis- 
lative procedure was for the commons to petition, and the king and 
lords to enact at their request. Another reason for Langland's 
silence upon this point is doubtless that in his opinion the law of 
Holy Writ is sufficient. We detect the spirit of Magna Charta in his 
work, but we are unmistakaPly shown that to him the Great Charter 
is the law of God. 

Plowmen. The precise meaning of the term plowman in the 

poem is open to discussion. Is Piers Plowman himself a free tenant, 
or a villein, the legal restrictions upon whom are thus stated (C. 
XIII. , 61): No churl may make a charter or sell his cattle without 
the consent of his lord; if he run in debt, or leave his place of abode, 
he is liable to imprisonment. Langland says that no clerk should be 
tonsured unless he were come of franklins and free men, and wedded 
folk (C, VI., 6T^y, but hs nowhere makes Piers Plowman a tonsured 
clerk. Piers proposes, as a free man might, to leave his half acre, 
and guide the pilgrims to Truth (C, IX); but his absence is appa- 
rently not to be permanent. Freeman defines a churl (see reference 
above) as a member of the lowest class of freemen. This class after the 
Conquest became fused with that of the slaves into the intermediate 
class of villeins, who were not slaves in person, but not wholly free 
in law. It may be that with Langland, the plowman and the churl 
are the same, but that in describing the one, he is thinking of hi§ 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 247 

constantly increasing privileges, and in defining the other, of his 
exact legal status. Or he may have in mind the distinction pointed 
out by Skeat (Notes, 169) between the two principal classes of vil- 
leins, the first of whom *' were allowed many indulgences, and even 
in some cases, a limited kind of property;'-' and all of whom, Freeman 
states, became entirely free by the end of the fifteenth century. 

It is evident that by plowmen Langland means laborers attached 
to the land, because (C, IX., 331) after having described the food 
and implements of the plowman, he makes a comparison, in the main 
unfavorable, between him and the "laboreres that han no londe to 
lyuen on bote here handes;" and it was probably this movable con- 
tingent that was in such demand after the pestilence, and concerning 
whom a law was passed limiting wages, and prohibiting traveling 
from one parish to another. That Piers has some property rights is 
shown by his making his will, and in its specifications (C, IX., 95); 
but still he owes allegiance to his lord Truth, holds under him, and 
receives from him instructions as well as deputed power. 

My conclusion then is that Piers Plowman, as he at first appears, 
is a villein of the highest class. So far as he has a political signifi- 
cance, it is as a member of the commons; but in the nature of things 
he can have little until his emancipation is complete.* 

Clerg-y. . The office of the clergy is purely spiritual, and 

though they, especially the higher prelates, do meddle with political 
matters, they have no business to do so, except in an advisory capac- 
ity. Even in the matter of collecting tithes, their authority is non- 
political. They possess however certain rights of protection over 
members of their own body and others, illustrated by the right of 
sanctuary, benefit of clergy, and even the neckverse (C, XV., 129) 
that may deliver a thief from the gallows. 

Economic Economic theories, properly SO called, are hardly 

theories. ^^ ^^ found in the poem; but rather economic facts; 

though occasionally Langland gives expression to an isolated opinion 
that has an economic bearing, as for instance the following: 

"In marchaundise ys no mede, ich may it wel avowe. 

Hit is a permutacion a-pertelich o pene- worth for another.'" 

(C, IV., 315). That is, in trade is no reward or bribe, but simply 
fair and open exchange, presumably taking account of labor involved 
as well as of the value of the commodities. 

The ''interesting allegory concerning questions of natural econo- 
my" mentioned by Ten Brink (Early Eng. Lit., p. 360) is an allegory 
concerning the want that, preceded the pestilence, and the demand for 



*For discussion of the religious significance of the character see topic Christ as Piers 
Flowinan. 



248 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

labor and the consequent plenty that followed it. Hunger proves him- 
self as good a political economist as he is a physician, in compelling the 
idle to labor, and in providing food for them and the helpless (C, IX., 
171 ff. ). After the pestilence, when Hunger slept, laborers refused all 
but the best of fare and the highest of wages (C, IX., 331). Besides 
the general recklessness that accompanied and followed the plague 
(C, XXIII., 150), marriages became frequent and reckless (C. XI., 
272), with the most unhappy results. The political conclusions are 
not far to seek, though Langland does not draw them, contenting 
himself with the moral ones. 

"Seldom mosseth the marble-stone that men oft tread." One 
should not change craft or religion without good reason, and 
whether married or single, should not become a " runner about " 
from one place to another (A, X., 87 ff.). 

God provided for man the three necessaries of life, — food, drink, 
and clothing. These are for all, and should be partaken of, in meas- 
ure, by all (C, II., 20). He gave the elements to serve man, and 
hence these, that is wit, water, wind, and fire, should be free to all 
(C, II., 17; C, X., 55). 

Though Langland teaches that Christian men should be in common 
rich (C, XVII., 43), his indignant renunciation elsewhere of the 
communistic principle (C, XXIII. , 277) must mean that he believes 
not in actual community of ovvnership, but rather in reasonable 
equality; those who have more, caring from their abundance for those 
who have less. 

Langand is also alive to some of the evils and dangers of municipal 
life (C, IV., 90 ff. ). Where the good and evil are so closely asso- 
ciated together, it must often happen that the good suffer with the 
evil, as well as because of them.* 

3. THEOLOGICAL AND RELIGIOUS TEACHING. 

On other subjects Langland may have held reflected opinions; here 
if anywhere they should be his own. Yet we find little of novelty. 
His teaching is simply the teaching of the church, but he shows how 
far from this teaching has diverged the practice of men. This was 
apparent to many others. Gower too spoke in the "Vox Clamantis" 
(138 1), but not until after the voice of Langland had been heard, 
and had produced marked results. 

Here as elsewhere Langland states his doctrines, whether of the- 
ology, religion, or ethics, not systematically, but as they are needed 
to enforce some practical truth; and it is doubtful whether he had 



*The description of the life, of various classes ofsociety. especially the very poor, is of 
economic importance, but has been fully discussed by Geunther. See " Englisches Leben.""' 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAN LANGLAND. 249 

ever given any attention to the attempt of the scholastics to systema- 
tize and explain, though he necessarily made use of their conclusions, 
as far as they had become a part of the doctrines of the church. In 
proceeding with the treatment of this topic, I shall aim to separate 
the formal and doctrinal from the practical. 

a. THE SUPERNAL AND THE INFERNAL. 

The Trinity. 'f he doctrine of the Trinity is repeatedly enun- 

ciated, with profuse illustration. God is Truth, or His throne is 
Truth, ''the trone that trinity ynne sitteth " (C, II., 134). Belief in 
the Trinity is the most fundamental of the articles of faith (B, X., 
230-238). There are three Persons, but each is God himself, and all 
are God, and are "noujht in plurel noumbre;" yet in the act of 
creation, God though ''synguler hym-self " used the plural verb 
faciamus, thus implying, Langland says, that a greater agency was at 
work than His word alone (B, IX., 35). God is without beginning; 
the Son is the savior from death and the devil; the Holy Ghost is of 
both; and the Trinity is the Creator of man and beast. This is the 
summary of the " artikle of the feithe;" but this is hard to under- 
stand, hence the illustrations elsewhere given. 

God in the act of creation, but without the Son and Spirit, would 
be as a lord who would write letters but lacked a pen and parchment 
(Ibid.). The three Persons of the Trinity are the three props of the 
tree of Charity (C, XIX., 1-52) . Against the world stands Potencia- 
Dei-Patris; against the wind of the flesh resists Sapiencia-Dei-Patris, 
which is Christ; and Spiritus-Sanctus is used to support the tree 
when shaken by the devil, and also as a weapon to strike him down. 

Christ's coat of arms, when he jousts in the armor of Piers Plow- 
man (C, XIX., 188, and parallel passages in B), is three Persons in 
one banner, each separate from the other, yet one speech and one 
spirit springeth out of all; there is but one wit and one will, and 
though ''sondry to seo upon, solus dens he hoteth." The Trinity is 
like Christ, Christendom, and the Church, or like Adam, Eve, and 
Abel, that is husband, wife, and child. Eve proceeded from Adam, and 
Abel was of them both, yet these three are but one in manhood. So 
is the Son of the Father, and the Holy Spirit of them both (C, XIX., 
210-240). Abraham states that God appeared to him as three Per- 
sons "goyinge a-thre right by my gate," and in what follows is a 
curious adaptation of the grammar to toe circumstances. Abraham 
rose up and reverenced God, and right fair preeted Him, and washed 
their feet and wiped them. After they had eaten, He told x\braham 
and his wife their inmost thoughts (C, XIX., 245). 



250 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

The Trinity is like a hand (C, XX., 1 11-167). The Father is the 
fist, including the Son and Spirit; the Son is the fingers, and the 
Holy Spirit the palm. The Trinity is like a candle (C, XX., 168- 
228) of wax, wick, and fire. The wax and the wick twine together 
like Father and Son, the fire proceedeth from them both, and of 
the Three or the One comes the light that serves laborers to see by. 
It is doubtful whether any of these illustrations are Langland's own. 
€rocl. The attributes and function of each Person of the Godhead 
are specified in connection with the above illustrations, and elsewhere. 
God as the moral ruler of the universe is Truth. As its creator and 
physical ruler, He is identified with Nature, or Kynde (C, XL, 151). 
At the close of the poem, Langland seems for a time to have' sepa- 
rated his conception of Nature from that of God (C, XXIH., 80); 
but even there Nature's ravages cease as soon as men amend, and 
the agency of God is still apparent (Ibid., 109). 

God created man, endowed him with the Holy Spirit, and adapted 
the earth for his occupancy (B, IX., 33-47; C, II., 17 ff. ). God is 
without beginning, the founder of all things in heaven, having estab- 
lished the orders of angels (C, II., 104). He is the fountain of 
power and justice, yet commissioned the Son and Spirit to open to men 
the gates of mercy (C, XX., 111-134, 168-209). His throne upon 
earth is the heart of man (C. VIII., 254 ff.); he has closed within 
the castle of the body the soul, which is betrothed to him (C, XL, 
132), and has established conscience as a ruler and guardian of the 
castle. By sin He is concealed from man, as the sun by the clouds 
(Ibid., 160). 

The Holy The especial attribute and name of the Holy Spirit 

Spirit. is Grace (C, XIX., 52). The Holy Spirit is the Com- 

forter of the holy. As the palm directs the fingers, the Holy Ghost 
was the Inspirer and Director of the Son upon earth (C, XX., 116). 

The palm is purely the hand, and hath power of himself 

Otherwise than the closed fist, or workmanship of the fingers. 

For the palm hath power to put out the joints 

And to unfold the fist, for to him it belono:eth, 

And to receive that the fingers reach, and refuse if him liketh, 

All that the fingers and the fist feel and touch, 

Be he grieved with their gripe, the Holy Ghost lets fall. (C, XX., HO). 

When the palm is hurt the hand is useless; a simile which hints at 
the unpardonable sin (Ibid., 161). If the palm be unhurt, one may 
help himself, though the fingers ache. 

The Holy Ghost converts the power of God into mercy, and the 
mercy of Christ into forgiveness where repentance is, and there only; 
otherwise it is ineffectual, as a spark struck from flint and steel,,. with- 
out matches prepared to receive it. It directs men on the road to^ 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 25 I 

Truth (God) after repentance (C, XXIJ., 213-228), and besides, 
teaches them wit and craft, love and humility. 

Christ as Piers Christ is mentioned in the poem under two dif- 
Piowmaii. ferent aspects; in his own proper personality as the 

Son of God, as in the illustrations already given; and in His human 
personality as Piers Plowman. Piers is at first a simple plowman, 
unmistakably such; and at the close of the poem he takes on as 
unmistakably the character and attributes of the Son of God. But 
the author has accomplished the transition in a very rude and imper- 
fect manner, full of inconsistencies and contradictions, which he 
apparently perceived but was unable to remove. 

At first the j^lowman is introduced to show that real knowledge of 
Divine things is found rather in the humble than in the learned, 
whom Pride may have turned from the right way. To make the 
beginning still more simple, it is not Grace that teaches Piers, but 
the secondary minister s, Conscience and Kyndewit (C, VIIL, 184). 
The allegorical way that Piers points out leads past the various land- 
marks of the Ten Commandments, to a court or castle, whose moat 
is Mercy, the wall Wit, the battlements Christianity, and the buttresses 
Believe-and-be-saved. Within, the houses are roofed with Love and 
Leal-Speech. The bars are of Obedience, the bridge is Pray-well, 
each pillar is of Penance and Prayers to Saints, the hooks that the 
doors hang on are Alms-deeds. Grace keeps the gate; his servant is 
Amend-you, and at the postern gates the porters are the seven virtues. 

He who points out this short and easy way to a Celestial City 
older than Bunyan's, is at first only a simple hind; but he soon begins 
to assume something of authority, in response to the request that he 
act as guide. In yielding to this request. Piers begins to reveal the 
second and most important aspect of his character, that of teacher. 
He may not go as guide until he has finished plowing his half acre; 
and that he may finish the sooner, the seekers after Truth set to work 
to help him. Ye tin this passus (C, IX) it is Hunger rather than 
Piers that exhibits some of th^ attributes of Christ, and after Pieis 
makes his will, Hunger himself becomes the teacher, and advises 
Piers as to the proper manner of managing the many worthless among 
his laborers. Here Piers is again merely a plowman, but a man in 
authority over his half acre, like a head harvestman. 

In the next passus, Truth sends to Piers, forbidding the proposed 
journey; but sends him a pardon for himself, his heirs, and his 
servants. This pardon is interpreted with reference to several classes 
of men, until finally a priest questions both pardon and interpreta- 
tion, and a dispute is the consequence. Here is a new phase of the 
development. Piers is not made one of the clergy; but in giving him 



252 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

the power to pardon, Langland introduces the idea that pardon may 
come to the humblest without the mediation of any human instru- 
mentality; and also that the humblest may serve as an acceptable 
minister of Truth to others, if his own life be true. Finally the 
lesson of this passus, which is the focal point of the entire poem, is 
summed up in this; that while the pope has the power of pardon, 
and penance and masses avail to save souls, better than all and surer 
than all is Dowel, a humble and godly life; and he who lives such a 
life has not only pardon for himself, but may secure it for others. 
Thus by implication, Piers Plowman becomes a rninister of Christ, 
and another step is taken in the development of the character. 

But a new conception of Piers entered the mind of the author as 
he proceeded to expand in Text B his first answer to the question, 
What is Dowel? After expressing this conception, he discovered 
that he had not made it consistent with that already given, and made 
an effort to reconcile the two in the latest revision of the poem, 
but without entire success. The next reference to Piers Plowman 
occurs at the dinner where Will, the author, in his search for 
Dowel, comes to table with Reason, Clergy, Conscience, and Pa- 
tience (C, XVI.; B, XIII). The author is thinking of Piers as 
Christ, but seems to confuse in him no fewer than three different 
characters. He says of him that he ''sette alle sciences at a 
soppe saue loue one " (B, XIII., 124), a remark that was made by 
Study (B, X., 206), though of course based on the teaching of 
Christ. In the same passage (B, XIII., 123), Clergy says *'one 
Picres the Plowman hath impugned us alle;" but (B, X., 442) it 
was Will, the author, that impugned Clergy, though his words were 
again taken from the teachings of Christ, and were in this case 
directly ascribed to Him. Lastly Piers and Christ are mentioned in 
successive sentences, as though they were intended to be separate 
characters (B, XIII. , 132-133). Here then are confounded in a few 
lines, Christ, Piers Plowman, Study, and Will himself, though the 
author's general meaning is clear. But in view of these facts it can 
hardly be said that the identification of Piers Plowman with Christ is, 
as yet, by any means direct or complete."^ 

Langland next speaks of Piers Plowman as possessing the power to 
read men's hearts, and help them to be charitable or to love one 
another (B, XV., 190); yet here, while he is undoubtedly thinking of 
Christ as Piers Plowman, he carelessly keeps the two characters 
apart by referring to Christ by name in the preceding line (189). 
Finally he settles for us the question as to what his meaning really is, 

*In B. XIII.. 237. the priest bids the people pray for Piers Plo-mnan: and in C. XVI., 19.5- 
Hankyn is Piers Plowman's prentice. These references balance: the first seems tcu 
contemplate the human side of the character, the second the divine. 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 253 

by saying in so many words, albeit in Latin, that Piers is Christ (B, 
XV., 206), ^' Petrus, id est Christus.''^ But we are not allowed to 
rest in this assurance; for in a short time we find them again separ- 
ated, almost hopelessly. In Text B, Piers Plowman appears to Will 
in a vision, describes and explains to him the tree of Charity or True- 
love, and states that it is to save the fruit of this tree. Piers Plow- 
man's fruit, that Christ is commissioned. At first nothing here 
interferes with identification, but finally we come to the statement 
(B, XVI., 104) that after the birth of Christ, Piers acts as His 
teacher. 

. Langland evidently perceived the inconsistency, and attempted to 
remove it. In the C-text, the references to the words of Piers Plow- 
man (C, XVI., 131)* are made somewhat more general, and less 
suggestive of other characters. However he makes matters rather 
worse instead of better by introducing into the allegory Piers' sudden 
and mysteri-ous appearance at the dinner, and his equally sudden 
disappearance, accompanied by Reason. Here Piers utters in person 
the words elsewhere ascribed to Christ (C, XVI., 138) and makes use 
of miraculous power. From this we might conclude that Lang- 
land aimed to make unmistakable the divinity of Piers; but he again 
puzzles us by omitting the formal statement that Piers is Christ. But 
though he omits this formal statement, he removes another inconsist- 
ency, by ascribing the whole of the action of the passus (B, XVI.) 
to Freewill instead of Piers Plowman, including the mention of him 
as teacher of Christ, thus leaving us at liberty to assume for our- 
selves the identity of Piers and Christ, if we choose to do so. 

But still another conception is presented in the twenty-first passus, 
making it for a time again impossible to regard Piers and Christ as 
one. In passus XXI. the Plowman reappears in his human character, 
but with new attributes, gradually growing more like Christ until 
the end of the poem. In the preceding passus a character is intro- 
duced which is named simply the Samaritan, but which is conceived 
as Christ in the flesh (not the conception just discussed), as is shown 
when in Passus XXI. Christ appears in person, and it is explained 
that he wears the armor of Piers Plowman, and resembles the Samar- 
itan. Here reappears the idea mentioned in B, XVI.; in both texts 
it is stated that Jesus comes to joust with the foul fiend to redeem the 
fruit of Piers the Plowman. We begin now, as it would be perfectly 
consistent to do had no mention of Piers been made since Passus 
X., with two persons, Christ himself, and Piers Plowman, his 
humble servant or minister, whose armor Christ wears. In the 
armor of Piers, that is, in the body of man, the life of Christ is 

* Parallel with B, XIII. See p. 253. 



254 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

described; then his apocryphal visit to hell, whence he brings the 
souls of many. At last (C, XXII^ the author sees Piers Plowman 
"peynted al blody," resembling in all things our Lord, and asks the 
question point blank, Is this Piers Plowman, or is it Christ? Con- 
science answers, It is Christ with his cross, conqueror of Christen- 
dom. 

Xot yet, however, is it necessary to make the identification abso- 
lute; we still have Christ in the armor of Piers, and Piers is still the 
servant whose armor Christ wears. Piers is now more formally 
endowed with, the functions of the clergy: he receives from Christ 
the power to forgive sin, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. He is 
commissioned by Grace, the Holy Spirit, as procurator, reeve, and 
registrar, to receive debts due. As a purveyor and plowman upon 
earth, with a team consisting of the four gospels, and another of the 
four fathers, Austin, Ambrose. Gregory, and Jerome, he receives, for 
sowing, the seed of the four cardinal virtues, and is ordered to build 
a bam to contain the harvest. The barn finished, Piers goes forth 
through the world with Grace, to cultivate Truth. While he does 
this, his friends and neighbors are attacked by the host of Anti- 
Christ: and the laborers flee into the barn. Holy Church, where 
under Conscience they attempt to defend themselves. At last the 
enemy through treachery obtain entrance to the barn, and secure 
such an advantage that Conscience girds himself to go forth and bring 
Piers Plowman to the rescue. Here the poem ends, and it is this 
last reference that seems again to make Piers Plowman one with 
Christ. 

To the question, therefore. Who or what is Piers Plowman? no 
consistent answer can be given, if we attempt to reconcile all the 
various interpretations, or if we attempt to reconcile all three texts 
with each other. In one case, Professor Skeat, for instance, inter- 
prets Piers to mean the pope, bishops, the whole church, Christ, and 
the clergy, in almost as many consecutive lines of C, XXII. Again, 
we have to reconcile the author's own statement that Piers is Christ, 
with his equally plain teaching that Piers is a servant of Christ. 

The interpretation of the character of Piers that seems to reconcile 
more discrepancies than any other is this: Let Piers Plowman 
denote man endowed with the spirit of Christ, or human nature in its 
highest form (Skeat, Notes, p. 250), until the end of the poem is 
reached, and Conscience sets out in search of him. Then and there 
he may be assumed to take the character of Christ, but in this place 
it maybe regarded as a natural climax, and a fitting conclusion to the 
whole. If this interpretation be kept in view, it does not matter 
whether Piers be understood in special instances to mean pope (B^ 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 255 

XIX., 424; C, XXII,, 428), bishop, or plowman. It will however be 
necessary to reject Professor Skeat's explanation of these lines (G, 
XXII., 213):— 

"Tho by-gaii Grace to go with Peers the Plouhnian, 

And consailede hym and Conscience the comune to someny;'' — 

the summons being in order that the commons may be provided with 
means of livelihood, and of defense against Anti-Christ. Of this pas- 
sage Professor Skeat says (Notes, 268), '^Here Grace .is the Holy 
Ghost, and Piers the Plowman is still Christ; the latter title not being 
used of Christ's deputed successors till line 258 below, though the 
name oi peers has been once so used above in line 188." But there 
can hardly be a distinction between "peers" and Piers the Plowman, 
particularly as the '-'peers" of line 188 appears in the preceding line 
(187) at full length as ''Peers the Plouhman." The special gifts that 
are afterwards mentioned proceed from the Holy Spirit, not from 
Piers. Moreover, at the next mention of Piers, Grace calls him "my 
plowman upon earth," a statement fully as consistent with his 
humanity as with his divinity. 

That objection to the suggested interpretation, which is based on 
the a'ccount of Piers Plow.nan at the dinner (C, XVI., 138), cannot 
be disposed of, unless we call the passage a blunder on Langland's 
part. Here he certainly means Christ and as certainly calls Him 
Piers Plowman; but a reason for doing so, other than that suggested, 
is not apparent. 

We have remaining, aJPter the passages mentioned, the final refer- 
ence to Piers Plowman as to one who alone can save the church. 
This reference does make him Divine; but for this exaltation of his 
character we are now fully prepared. Piers, with the exception 
mentioned, has been taking on more and more of the Divine char- 
acter without merging in it the human, until at this point, with a single 
touch, he is uplifted and glorified; and he who has hitherto 
been a fellow laborer and a fellow sufferer as well as a guide and 
teacher, suddenly, yet naturally, in a moment of deepest despair, 
becomes a Savior. Thus a light still beams; and the darkness in 
which the poem ends is not absolute, nor hopeless,' but may be the 
•darkness before the dawn. 

Christ I conclude then that the conventional interpretation of 

the Son. Piers as Christ must be accepted as the conception which 
was undoubtedly in the author's mind when writing a certain paft of 
the poem; but that in revision, he weakened the conception of Piers 
as Divine and strengthened that of Piers as man endowed with the 
Divine Spirit, thus bringing into greater harmony »the several parts of 
his poem, but not completing the unifying process. To support this 



256 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

conclusion, there is constant reference made throughout every 
part of the poem, to Christ in His own proper person as the Son of 
God, proving that to Langland Christ and Piers were ordinarily sepa- 
rate conceptions; and these references are as numerous or nearly so in 
those passages where Piers is most often mentioned, as elsewhere; 
"Christ" and "Piers" often standing side by side in consecutive lines. 
From the references to Christ in his Divine personality may be 
gathered a tolerably complete life history and doctrinal teaching. In 
C, XIX. and XXI. are given the fullest accounts of the life of 
Christ, the first incomplete, the second much condensed. The first 
includes the incarnation, miracles, and betrayal; the second begins 
with Christ's last journey to Jerusalem, describes His trial and cruci- 
fixion. His descent into hell, and triumph there. 

The martial and chivalric spirit of the Middle Ages appears, in that 
Christ rides to enter Jerusalem as a knight in armor to a tournament 
(C, XXI. ,14). -When He hangs upon the cross, none dare touch 
Him to wound, because He is a knight and a king's son; hence at 
last, the blind Longinus, himself a knight, is called on to deal the 
fatal blow, unwitting who his victim is. The blood streaming forth 
restores to Longinus his sight, whereupon he kneels to ask forgiveness 
of Christ, and by this act, as he is the Jews' champion, he yields to Christ 
the victory, and places the Jews at His disposal, according to the law 
of arms. 

In C, XXII. Christ appears to Thomas, and ascends into heaven, 
deputing His power upon earth to Piers Plowman. Further we find 
His commission from the Father, and His forgiveness of His slayers 
(C, II., 164-168), the creed of the atonement, crucifixion, and re- 
demption (C, VIII., 121 ff. ), His relation to man as father, brother,, 
savior (Ibid., 144), the power of His love to move and direct men (C^ 
II., 149 ff. ), the necessity of belief- in Him as the Son of God (C, 
XIL, 142 ff.) His poverty (C, XIV., 1-4) and especial love for the 
poor (C, XII., 292), and His all-embracing mercy (C, XH., 254 if.). 
:sioti»er of Though the central figure in Langland's theology is 
Ciii'ist. Christ himself, he recognizes in accordance with the teach- 

ing of the church, the dignity and authority of His mother. She is fre- 
quently invoked by name (C, III., 2), or as intercessor with the Son 
(C, VII., 170). It is stated in Latin and again in English (C, VIII.,. 
250-289) that she, under the name of ]Mercy, has a key to heaven, 
that both she and her Son may grant help to the sinful, and that 
there is no other help but through those two. 

Heaven. The poem contains no picture of heaven, but only occa- 
sional references and suggestions. It is variously located, sometimes 
toward the east, from the point .of view of the stage of the Miracle 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND, 257 

Plays, and sc^metimes toward the south, from the traditional point of 
view. As to constitution and government (C, II., 104 ft.), there 
are among the angels ten orders of knighthood, and we ma}^ conclude 
that the multitude of the redeemed are the commons, and that among 
them there are degrees of bliss, for the thief who repented upon the 
cross (C, XV., 132) is not seated with the saints and martyrs, but 
upon a far lower level. 

Piirj;;atoi\Y. Langland believes with the church that souls repent- 
ant, but who have not made full restitution (C, XIII., 65: see topic 
Penance) may be purified in purgatory, and that the prayers of the 
good, masses, and special services avail to lighten their i)unishment. 
To sing at such services was his own employment (C, VI., 46). 
Good deeds enable kings and knights to pass purgatory easily (C, X., 
9). Those who take bribes shall yield them again at one year's end, in 
a full perilous place called purgatory (B, VI., 42). The patient poor 
pass purgatory sooner than the rich (C, XIV., 31), and through 
perfect faith, one may pass purgatory penanceless (C, XII., 296). 

The Evil -"^s was the contemporary belief (Skeat, Notes, 

J!^i>irit. 258), to Langland Lucifer is the chief of the fallen 

angels, the Prince of Hell, while Satan, the Duke of Death, is merely 
a subordinate under Lucifer. Chaucer (Monks Tale, line 14) applies 
the name Sathanas to Lucifer after his fall. In the passage where 
Langland introduces both (C, XXL, 262 ff. ) Professor Skeat points 
out that there is some confusion in their traditional characters, since 
to Lucifer and not to Satan is ascribed the temptation of Eve (C, 
XXL, 315). But the characters are clearly differentiated. Satan 
counsels armed resistance to the approach of Christ; Lucifer knows 
this to be vain, but in his turn would meet Him with a legal plea, 
which Satan perceives to be useless. Subsequently Lucifer's sub- 
ordinates accuse him of having lost to them their joy in heaven, and 
now through his deception of Eve the lordship of hell is also to be 
forfeited. For this deception Lucifer is bound, while the rest flee 
and hide. 

Lucifer was formerly a member of the chief order of knighthood in 
heaven (C, II., 105). Believing that he was wittier and worthier 
than his Master (C, VL, 188), he sought to establish a kingdom for 
himself in the north part of heaven (C, IL, 112) but on his way 
thither he failed and fell, and all his fellows; some in earth, some in 
air, some in hell deep — Lucifer lowest of them all, though still 
xetaining his leadership. 

Why Lucifer sought the north is a question Langland declines to 
answer, that he may spare the feelings of northern men (C, IL, 105). 
We might take the statement (Ibid. 134') that active men need no 



258 KANSAS UNIVERSriV QUARTERLY. 

fire except on a holiday, as a hint that Lucifer's idea w^ to establish 
a kingdom in a country where the climate would compel his followers 
to be active and agressive. and hence would insure stability of govern- 
ment. But Professor Skeat states that the conventional explanation 
(Piers Plowman, E. E. T. S. ed., Vol. IV., Section L, p. 35) is that 
Lucifer's malice in causing other angels to fall fro*m heaven was like the 
coldness of the north winds that chill the flowers, and hence that 
the north vras the only suitable place for him. 

The devil, the same who deceived our first parents, and hence for 
consistency, Lucifer, though by tradition he should be called Satan, lies 
in wait for the fruit of the tree of charity, that is for the souls of men. 
at death, and is continually endeavoring to batter them down from 
the tree. To him all robbers are especially near of kin (C, A'lL, 330, 
and parallel passages). 

Hell. AVe have a more complete picture of the infernal regions 
than of heaven (C, XXI) but still lacking in definitefiess. Its location 
is more confused than that of heaven; it is toward the north in the 
passage just mentioned, toward the west (C, I., 16: C, II., 55), and 
toward the east (C, XXL. 19). The first comes from tradition, the 
second is the position opposed to that of heaven upon the Mystery 
stage, and the third is probably due (Skeat, Notes, 253) to the posi- 
tion of the mouth of hell upon a separate stage of the same platform. 
There are degrees in hell as in heaven. Trajan, because his life 
was moral, was punished not deep in hell, but so high up that he was 
delivered thence, and is now in the lowest heaven (C. XV., 150; cf. 
C, XIII. , 75 ). With respect to the matter of deliverance from hell 
there is a difference of opinion between Truth and Mercy (C, XXI. 
1 15-157 if.). Those condemned under the Mosaic law may be 
delivered through the atonement of Christ, and the example of Trajan 
proves, in at least one instance, the power of prayer to deliver; but it ' 
is not certain that this establishes a rule, since the fate of Solomon, 
Socrates, and Aristotle is still in doubt (C, XII., 220; C; XV., 192). 

b. MAN. DUTIES AND TRANSGRESSIONS. 

Piaee in The earth is for the habitation of man, and the ele- 

Creation. ments and all creatures are for his service and delight 
(C, II., 17; B, XL, 389). Man is responsible for a double portion of 
wit and freewill (B, A'lIL, 55-56), yet often rules himself less accord- 
ing to Reason's teaching than do the other animals (C, XIV., 192), 
Men may be classified into three degrees of holiness, the married, the 
widowed, and the virgin (C, XIX,, 71 ff.). He must not seek after 
knowledge beyond his naturaf portion (C, XIV., 222 ff.). 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 259 

General ^^ the teaching of the whole poem may be reduced to a 

l>uties. word, man's duty is to love and labor. The duty of love 
and benevolence is constantly iterated, and its application is made 
specific in countless instances; while the duty of labor is the keynote 
struck in the beginning, and with all the author's power. Labor 
should be honest, and love should be according to law. For the rest, 
we may sum up Langland's teaching as that man's duty comprises the 
observance of the four cardinal virtues, and the avoidance of the 
seven deadly sms through the cultivation of their opposites (See C, 
XXII., 274; also C, VI. and VII). Langland places especial stress 
upon temperance, economy, humility, honesty, and truth. 

... , Attendance upon divine service upon Sunday is 

Contemplative obligatory upon all (C, X., 221-245). Langland 
^'^^^- believes in all the observances of the church, but 

good works towards one's fellowmen, and faith, are of even 
greater value (C, II., 1 70-181; C, XII., 142-148). And one observ- 
ance of the church, that of receiving windows commemorating the 
giver, he disapproves in toto, and gives warning that good deeds are 
not to be published (C, IV., 63-76). There are two kinds of life 
that- are acceptable to Christ, the active and the contemplative; and 
both are blessed if lived in accordance with the law of God (B, VL, 
249 ff.). To the contemplative life belong prayer and the observ- 
ances of the church, but it must be lived in self-sacrifice, not self- 
seeking (C, II., T70-1&1); one may know Christ neither through 
words nor works, but through will alone (B, XV., 204). The active 
life may also be abused, as it is by Haukyn (C, XVI., 194 ff.), who 
finds the task of providing for his temporal wants so great that he 
lacks time to care properly for his own spiritual life; but if lived in 
faith, love, temperance, and humility, it is worthy and sure of heaven 
(B, XIV., 46-58). In another sense, the married life is active life, 
and widowhood and virginity are two degrees of the contemplative 
life (C, XIX., 71-83). . The latter is perhaps the holier, if worthily 
lived. 

The Pooi\ Langland, though he realizes the sins and short-com- 
ings of the poor, provides them with all the consolation in his power, 
the conclusions of his philosophy of life. Since they suffer so much 
in this life, they shall surely be rewarded in the life to come, if they 
are patient under suffering (C, XIII., 194). Thus the equipoise will 
be restored; having winter here, they will have summer in heaven 
(A, XIV., 160), and may claim heaven as it were by right (C, XVII., 
57, 103). The blessings of poverty in this life are also fully dis- 
cussed (C, XIII., XIV., and XVII.; and B, XI). The poor are not 
in danger of enemies as are the rich; the sins of pride, gluttony, and 



2 6o KANSAS UNIVERSITY' QUARTERLY. . 

SO on, can obtain no advantage from poverty; adversity teaches one 
to look to God for help (C, XVII., 95); to forsake possessions is to 
become kin to Christ. Poverty (C, XVII) is hateful to pride, has 
not to sit as judge, and is thus freed from care, is not troubled with 
evil winnings or appeals to lend, is temperate and defends the flesh 
from sins, gives health and strength, lives in peace, is wise, truthful,, 
not covetous, a true laborer, does not overcharge, is the comfort and 
solace of the soul. Such is Langland's interpretation of a passage 
from Vincent of Beauvais. 

The Rich. As obverse of this picture, we have the rich, doomed 
to suffer in the next world for their joy in this, unless they have 
recourse to confession, contrition, and satisfaction. The rich are 
wasteful (C, I., 24), often dishonest, and, in that case, should not be 
entitled to the freedom of any city (C, IV., 112). They keep at 
their tables idle and worthless minstrels and jesters, to the neglect of 
the worthy poor (C, X., 128); and indulge there in idle disputation, 
and infidel conversation (C, XII., 35). They are loved only for 
what they possess, and their giving is less pleasing to God than is the 
patient endurance of the poor (C, XVI., 282). They must beware 
lest they be condemned as Dives was, for sins of omission (C, XX. ^ 
228). 

King. As already noted (page 244), the political duties of the 
king are founded upon the moral law. He must be generous (C, IV., 
266), love the commons, his treasure (C, IV., 181), defend holy 
church (C, X., 12), and rule according to Dowel, Dobet, and Dobest 
(C, XL, 100), being accountable to Dobest. The meaning of the 
famous prophecy (B, X., 317-330; C, VI., 169-180), is doubtless 
that through a king, by virtue of his royal power, is the sole hope of 
reform in the church. 

Knights. The true knight owes his faithful tenant kindness and 
fair speech, should take no bribe, be courteous, be no hearer of tales 
(C, IX., 19-53), dispute not conscience, or the rights of holy church 
(Cf. page 244). 

Pope. There are many traces of an independent and critical atti- 
tude toward the head of the church, especially since there were in 
Langland's time two claimants of the position; and this independence 
of attitude seems to increase in later versions of the poem. Though 
in Text A (VIIL, 8) he has spoken of the pope's pardoning 
power, in the parallel passage he transfers this power to Truth. 
But this power is again ascribed to the pope (C, X., 324) and the 
pope is undoubtedly meant (C, XXII. , 188 ff. ) where Piers Plowman 
is said to have the power to bind and unbind, and assoil of all sins 
save the failure to make restitution. 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 261 

Haukyn complains (C, XVI., 217 ff.) that for his support of the 
pope, he has received nothing in return (Cf. B-text;, and wishes that 
the pope might subdue the pestilence, not daring to impute his fail- 
ure to a lack of power or holiness in the pope himself, but ascribing 
it to the sinfulness of men upon whom the pestilence is sent. The 
schism of the popes probably gives rise to several allusions. No 
wit or strength of this world can make a peace between the pope and 
his enemies profitable to both (C, XVI., 173). It is wrong for the 
pope to pay men to make war upon other Christians, and the ways 
of peace are preferable for the good of the church, and of Christ's 
kingdom (C, XVIII., 234). Imperfect is the pope that all people 
should help, and sendeth them that slay such as he shouid save (C, 
XXIL, 430). 

Cardinals. As the most virtuous virtues are the cardinal virtues, 
cardinals should be most virtuous of men, and doubtless are so (C, 
I., 134). But a certain ignorant vicar, who has already impeached 
the pope, doubts this (C, XXIL, 411-425), and looks upon cardinals 
rather as sources of all evil. Coming from Rome to bring messages 
and collect moneys, they are sources of great expense, lechers, and a 
curse to the country they come into. 

Bishops. The principal charge, among many, against bishops, is 
that they seek sloth and ease, neglecting the care of souls, and are 
particularly careless of the command of Christ to preach the gospel 
to all nations; hence so-called bishops of foreign lands maintain resi- 
dence in London or Rome, and never think of going elsewhere (C. 
XVIII. , 187). They should be learned, wise, and holy; fearless in 
reproving sin, living as they teach. They are the rulers and judges in 
the church, and with the apostles may act as judges at domesday (C, 
X., 13-21). Their punishment will be according to their responsi- 
bility if they fail (Ibid., 255). But poisoned by the gift of lands as 
the church is, its bishops seek only for lands and money (C, XVIII. , 
220); often they purchase their positions (C, VI., 70), are ignorant of 
their duties, and allow their subordinates to deceive the people with 
false teaching, false miracles, and the sale of relics, images, and in- 
dulgences (C, I., 66-100). 
Parociiiai Upon the parochial clergy and friars, Langland ex- 

Clergy, pends all his energy and indignation. As with the 
bishops, the root of all is neglect of duty and eagerness for money. 
They leave their charges to seek silver in London, allow traveling 
pardoners to preach to their people, and divide with them the profits of 
the sale of indulgences or pardons. Often they are unchaste, proud, 
slothful, and ignorant. When pure, they often lack charity. As a 
complete antithesis to Chaucer's parson, nothing better could be 



262 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

found than the character of Sloth (C, VIIL, 1-67: cf. B. X., 306-309). 
They quarrel constantly with the friars over the profits of confession 
(C, VII., 119-129), and live as wolves among their own sheep (C, 
XVII., 241-278). 

Priests who dwell in cities should be attached to some church (C, 
VI., 89). They should desire poverty as the more blessed condition, 
and, apparently, Wyclif's ''poor priests" are commended (C,. 
XIV., loi) while the spirit of the new movement is further ap- 
proved in that Langland commends translation of the Bible (C, XL, 
88). Priests should be created for their learning, and should be free 
born. But learning without the Spirit of God is emptiness; such 
clergy are easily turned from the faith; while the ignorant are always 
blind leaders of the blind. They may be lost, as were the builders of 
the ark (C, XII., 250), having their reward in this world, and forfeit- 
ing it in the next (A, III., 237). A priest must suffer all things, and 
pass by riches, wine, and women (C, XII., 103-118). Passus XVIII. 
gives one of the strongest pictures of what a perfect priest should be, 
in contrast with the depth of infamy to which many have fallen. 

Priests may take no tithes of evil men, else they shall' be punished 
in purgatory (C, VII., 300). They must be faithful to the minutest 
details of duty, and even '"overskipping" in reading the services is a 
fault so serious as to be twice condemned (C, XIV., 119; XVIII., 
118). Langland utters a point-blank denial of the general assumption 
of priests and monks that to them is due the first and best of every- 
thing (C, XVIIL, 58-63):- 

Help thy father first before friars and monks, 
And before priests and pardoners, or any people else. 
Help thy kin Christ bade, for there beginneth charity, 
And afterward await who hast most need, 
And there help if thou hast, atd that hold I charity. 
Clergy as Clergy means scholarship as well as priesthood. 

Schoiar-siii p . xj^e advantages of Clergy are pictured in Passus XV. 
It has skill to confound its adversaries, makes record of the truth, 
teaches, and leads to salvation. L^ntaught men have a learning of 
their own, but it saves not souls; it is but knowledge of birds and 
beasts, and is folly without the Divine Spirit (C, XV., 72). Even a 
single line of Holy Writ in the memory has power to save a thief from 
the gallows (C, XV., 129). The clerk may protect himself and others; 
if he err, he destroys all faith of those about him, but if he does well, 
his followers do better ((', XVIIL, 122). 

Friars. The four orders of friars of which Langland usually 

speaks were the Eremite or Austin friars, or Augustines; the Carmel- 
ites, or white friars; the Dominicans, or Jacobins, or black, or preach- 
ing friars; and the Franciscans, Minorites, or grey friars. The fifth 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 263 

order, mentioned in the C-text, was probably that of the Trinity 
friars, crutched friars, or crossbearers (Cyc. Brit., IX., article Friars; 
Skeat, Notes, 9). For a description of the friar at his best, we should 
turn to the description of Charity (C, XVII., 297 ff.), though that 
description includes more than the friars alone. Charity rejoices with 
the glad and mourns with the sorrowing, fears no sickness or hard- 
ship, has no property and cares for none, goes on pilgrimages to the 
poor and those who are in prison, yet is merry at meat, and very 
good company. But finally we are told that he was found but once in 
a friar's frock, and that many years ago, in St. Francis' time. 

• For love of money friars too forsake their rules, trespass upon the 
parishes of the clergy to confess those afraid to confess to the priest 
■who knows them best (C, XXIII. , 286; C, IV., 38). They quarrel with 
the secular clergy, and among themselves; glose the gospel to suit 
themselves (C, I., 58) and for money pervert the teachings of better men 
{C, VII.,. 118), thus weakening the faith of man (C, XIL, 54-60). 
For money they pardon the gravest sins, and prefer always to admin- 
ister those offices of the church to which a fee is attached (C, IV., 2^, 
B, XI., 65). They admit rich men to the privileges and benefits of 
their order by means of letters of fraternity, without requiring of them 
any self-denial or vows, or aught else except liberal payments (C, 
XIII., 4-1 1; Skeat, Notes, 130). They are entitled to help and sup- 
port only when they ask humbly and for what they need (C, IX., 
146). But instead of asking humbly, they claim the best seats and 
the best food, vaunt their own holiness (C, XL, 18), and preach best 
when full of \vine, even on the subject of temperance, and at the same 
time exalt the virtue of doing as one preaches (C, XVI., 65-127). 
They love to deal with idle matters, and those above the comprehen- 
sion of the people (C, XVII., 230). 

To sum up (see C, XIII., 230 ff.), they are welcome in holy church 
so long as they live after their rule and the examj^le of the founders 
of the orders, and keep their numbers within reasonable limits. But 
their undue increase in number, their false philosophy, their shriving 
of the guilty without due penance and restitution, will lead to the de- 
struction of themselves if not of the church; and the Flatterer who 
poisons the defenders of the church, and drives Conscience forth into 
the world to seek the aid of Piers Plowman, is a friar. 

Hermits. Hermits no longer live like the early anchorites (C, 
XVIII., 13-36) but have their cells in public places, and wander 
abroad like friars and recreant priests (C, I., 51). Even more against 
them than the friars is the charge laid that they have chosen a life 
nominally religious to avoid labor (C, X., 188-254). In the life of 



264 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLV. 

Pilgrims and the pilgrims and palmers there seems to be nothing 
Palmers. even nominally religious, except the pilgrimage itself,, 

which Langland is disinclined to accept as a religious observance. 
Their leave to lie (C, I., 48) if not granted by the Pope, existed by 
common consent; and in another sense, a palmer, notwithstanding all 
his journeying, had not the remotest conception of the way to Truth. 

Xuns. There is quarreling and unchastity even in the nunneries; a, 
statement with which Gower is in accord (Morley, E. W,, IV., 187). 
Langland approves the ordinance of Gregory that women shall not be 
admitted to the priesthood (B, V., 166;. C, VII., 132-150). 

iioliers. Partly in the church and partly out of it belongs the 

class of idle vagabonds, loUei's, of whom are many hermits and pil- 
grims, besides many who think neither of hermitage nor pilgrimage. 
Langland resembled these, although they thought little of him (C, 
VI., 1-4). The growing tendency to apply the term to those who 
held and practiced new doctrines, or peculiar theories of life, is ap- 
parent in the poem; but the formal definition of it as given by Lang- 
land is as follows: (C, X., 215) 

"He that lolleth is lame, other his leg out of ioynte, 

Other meymecl in som membre, for to meschief hit souneth (hinteth). " 

But he himself applies it to a certain class lame only in a metaphorical 

sense, — 

"And ryght so sothlyche such manere eremytes 
Lollen ajen the bj'leyve and lawe of holy churche;" 

showing that there was a general appreciation of the similarity be- 
tween the idle beggars of the church; and the idle beggars who lay by 
the wayside, and feigned themselves wounded, crippled, or dis- 
eased. 

Merciiants. The especial charge against the merchants is, of course, 
that of deceitful dealing (confession of Avarice, C, VIL. 196 ff.); but 
the dignity of their occupation is recognized, and they are bidden to 
buy and sell, and use their winnings in specified works of charity (C, 
X., 22 ff. ; see also C, III., 222; C, IV., 112). The dangers and un- 
certainties of their business are also hinted at (C, VIL, 278; C, 

IV., ZZ)' 

tiawyers. Lawyers, the term including political officials of all sorts, 
are particular friends of Lady Meed, and there is not one from the 
highest to the lowest who does not woo her. These are liars, lechers, 
brokers of evil, malicious prosecutors, extortioners, shielders of the 
guilty; they allow prisoners to escape either by opening doors, or by 
buying oft the prosecutor, at the same time appealing to his sym- 
pathy, as was done in the case of Wrong (C, V., 45-65)- Thus did 
many a bright noble baldly bear adown the wit and wisdom of West- 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER ANDOPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 265 

minster Hall (C, XXIII., 132); and it also appears that bright nobles 
could make ''leal matrimony depart ere death come," and shape 
divorces (Ibid., 139). 

The fullest enumeration of the evil deeds of judges and counselors 
is found in Richard the Redeless (III., 317-345), but probably has 
reference to the special abuses of a particular time. They foment 
quarrels, prolong cases, bring false charges, give judgment before 
giving evidence, and endanger the lives of those who complain. Mag- 
istrates share in the general corruption under Meed (C, IV., 109). 

As toward the king, magistrates should judge justly, and as toward 
the people should impose fines and punishments in love and kindness 
(C, II., 157). All counselors should seek Truth, not gold or gifts 
^f ^-f 53)} 3.nd should give advice free to those who cannot afford to 
pay (C, X., 44-57; B, VII., 39-58). 

C. DOCTRINES OF HOLY CHURCH. 

THe Church. The source of the church is the Trinity. She is a 
lovely lady descended from the castle of Truth (C, II., 4). In one 
passage she calls herself the daughter of Christ and duchess of heaven 
(C, III., 31); while in another is conveyed the more conventional 
idea that the church is the bride of Christ. More interesting than 
these is the account of the church as the barn of Piers Plowman, 
which becomes the church militant when assailed by Anti-Christ, 
where Conscience is commander, and Peace gate-keeper. Meed is 
the bitter enemy of the church. The church has been poisoned by 
the endowment of lands (C, XVIIL, 220). From foes without, and 
unworthy servants within, she has come to low estate, and needs to be 
clothed new (C, VI., 180), but this is misfortune, not fault. Her law 
is charity (C, XVIIL, 124), belief, loyalty; and she is a refuge for all 
men, except the evil who have not forsaken their wickedness (C, XI., 
76). She is the custodian of the bodies of men after death (C, IX., 
100); the guardian of the sick and helpless (C, IX., 138), of those 
that lack full understanding, of fatherless children, poor widows and 
helpless maids (B, IX., 66). Sponsors in the church must see that 
their godchildren walk uprightly (B, IX., 74). ^ 

Sin. The chief auxiliaries of Anti- Christ in this world are the 

seven deadly sins, of whom, if any distinction may be made, Lang- 
land seems to regard Pride, Avarice and Gluttony as chief; judging 
from the fullness of his descriptions (C, VII. and VIII. ). Gower's 
treatment of this subject (Confessio Amantis) is more complete and 
formal than Langland's. His list includes all the subordinates, as 
follows: 

I. Pride; hypocrisy, disobedience, presumption, boasting, vain 
glory. 2. Envy; grudging of good fortune, gladness at grief, de- 



2 66 KANSAS UNIVERStlY- QUARTERLY. 

traction, dissimulation, supplantation. 3. Wrath; melancholy, chid- 
ing, hate, contest, homicide. 4. Sloth; delay, pusillanimity, forget- 
fulness, negligence, idleness, somnolence, despair. 5. Avarice; 
jealousy, cupidity, perjury, usury, parsimony, ingratitude, violent 
seizure, robbery, secret theft, sacrilege. 6, Gluttony; drunkenness,, 
delicacy. 7. Lust. 

Langland's order is: pride, envy, anger, lechery, avarice, gluttony, 
sloth; and his treatment has life as well as simplicity-. Each sin is 
represented by a single penitent, with the exception of Pride, which 
has two exponents, and the personal appearance of each is as fully 
portrayed as are the various forms of misconduct in each. If the con- 
fession of each be followed through in detail, it will be found that 
Langland has in mind probably an exposition similar to that of Gower, 
but is treating it with his usual freedom. 

The picture of Glutton is most lifelike of all. That of Sloth is only 
less so: he is a fat and greasy country priest, ignorant, careless of 
duty and offices, riding to hunt, denying debts, and cheating his 
servants. Through Sloth we may trace a way to the unpardonable 
sin. Sloth leads to despair, and the branches that lead men to sloth 
and despair are (C, VIII., 70), lack of sorrow for sin, neglect of 
penance and almsdeeds, living against belief and law, neglect to study; 
all of these cause man to doubt the grace of God, and hence prevent 
him from repenting and calling for mercy. Yet all sin may be for- 
given if there be contrition (C, XIII., 71); and sorrow of heart is sat- 
isfaction for such as may not pay otherwise (C, XX., 296), though 
restitution and good works should be added if possible. The unpar- 
donable sin, the sin against the Holy Ghost, has many forms, but the 
chief is to slay an innocent man, a follower of Christ (C, XX., 260- 
296). Even this slayer might be pardoned did he not despair of ob- 
taining mercy and hence fail to repent. Hence Sloth, which leads 
to despair and disbelief in the power of God, is one of the most 
dangerous of the deadly sins, 

Salvation. How then may I save my soul, asks Will (C, II., 80)- 
Holy Church^nswers, Live in truth and love, be true of tongue and 
hands, do good works therewith, and do no man ill. If one's intent 
and effort be true, there is pardon for failure (C, IV., 350). To re- 
move the stain of actual sin are repentance, penance, and faith (C, 
IV., 401). These place men in a right relation to God. 

Salvation is of grace, not works (C, XII., 254-271), and grace may 
be withdrawn (C, VIII,, 283 ff.); yet there is merit in good works if 
they be inspired by love and a sincere devotion to the idea of right, 
as is taught by the story of Trajan. Faith without works is inefficient 
and may fail to save (C, XIII., 92 ff.). And faith and -good works 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LAN-GLAND. 267 

do not save without the Atonement of Christ (C, VIII,, 121; C, XX., 
Si); those who died under the Mosaic dispensation awaited in hell 
the coming of Christ as their deliverer. 

The prayers of the righteous for those still upon earth (C, IV., 98) 
avail to save souls from purgatory, and in the case of Trajan the 
prayers of a most holy man delivered him from hell itself, a result 
due to his just life as well as to prayer. But Solomon, Socrates and 
Aristotle are supposed to be still in hell (C, XII., 220). However 
Langland expresses some doubt of the traditional belief, and reasons 
that since a just man shall hardly be saved in the day of judgment, it 
therefore follows that he may be saved. A true man that lives as his 
law teaches, and believes that there be no better, or would have kept 
it if there were, and lives and dies in that will, for him there certainly 
is commendation, his faith is great, and'hope of reward depends up- 
on that faith (B, XII., 268-293; C, XV., 192-217). 

One may sin often and yet be saved, as one in a boat may fall with- 
in it and be in no danger (C, XL, 30). The salvation of the ignor- 
ant may be more easily accomplished than that of the learned; but 
those who are saved late or narrowly may not expect a high place in 
heaven (C, XV., 92-145). 

Christ may not be renounced after full acceptance, but neglect of 
duty to Him will be punished in purgatory until all arrearages are 
made up (C, XIII., 53-70). 

Baptism. To be baptized is the command of Christ (B, XIV., 
183), and children are not saved without it (B, XL, 82). It washes 
away all sin, and is the pledge of salvation (B, XIV., 181-190). 
There is a baptism of font, of blood, and of fire (C, XV. ,» 207). It 
should be administered by a Christian only, except among the heathen, 
Saracens and Jews at the approach of death, when an unbeliever 
may perform the rite. In such a case belief and baptism are suffi- 
cient to save; but ordinarily to belief and baptism must be added ful- 
fillment of law (B, XIV., 345-359)- 

If a man sin after baptism, the three steps toward 
Confessiou. , . . . 

Peiiaiice.Ab- forgiveness are contrition, confession, and satisfaction 

solution. ^^^ XVIL, 25). Contrition makes deadly sin venial, 

and contrition and faith may save even without confession. Confes- 
sion slays the sin; and satisfaction, which maybe interpreted penance 
or restitution, buries it out of sight and makes it like a wound healed 
(B, XIV., 82-96). It is implied (B, XL, 94) that the secrets of the 
confessional are to be preserved. 

Though Langland formally teaches the duty of penance, he really 
attaches to it little importance; in fact he satirizes it by making his 
penitents propose their own penances, and these often apparent 



2 68 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

rather than real. Pride will \vear a hair shirt, Lechery drink with the 
duck only, Glutton will eat no fish on Friday, not stating whether he 
means to abstain from food altogether or substitute roast beef, Sloth 
will be at church before day every Sunday for seven years, a robber 
will polish his pikestaff and make pilgrimages. Repentance, the 
confessor, pays little attention to these propositions; but insists upon 
restitution, particularly in the case of Avarice; and after that, prayer. 
If one may not restore his illgotten goods to the owner, he may bear 
them to the bishop; perhaps another touch of satire. The only pil- 
grimages that Langland approves are those to visit the sick and 
unfortunate (C, XVII., 32; C, V., 122); confessors should enjoin for 
penance, peace, forgiveness, and love, and those that make pilgrim- 
ages to Rome should rather seek Truth (C, VI., 195). Yet, after 
stating that without contrition, confession and satisfaction, prayer, 
penance, pilgrimage, and writing in windows are all in vain, he admits 
that Avith these three essentials, telling of beads, pilgrimages,, 
privy penances and almsgiving are as aids to holiness C, XXII.,. 
377; C, XVIL, 29J. 

Shrift cares for the wounded of Holy Church (C, XXIII., 306). 
Pardon is sure for those that truly repent and believe and amend,, 
even without human intervention. Power to forgive sins is deputed 
to Piers Plowman (C, X., 8; C, XXII. , 185); yet Piers tears up his 
pardon and prefers to put his trust in prayer, penance (or restitution^, 
and right living; while the pardon itself proves to be simply the 
promise that the righteous shall inherit eternal life (B, VII., in ff.). 
True laborers shall have pardon (C, X., 60-68). Patient endurance 
of poverty, sickness and suffering in this life will be accepted as 
expiation, at least in part (C, X., 175). In short, while the pope has 
power to absolve from sin and purgatory without penance, and though 
contrition and confession should be life long (C, XL, 53), and prayer 
and penance have power to save, nothing is so sure toward this end 
as Dowel — right living (C, X., 318 to end). 

Dowel, i>o- T' 6 key to heaven is therefore not to be found in 

bet, Dobest. formal observances of anv kind, — 

Be unkind to thy fellow-Christian, and all that thou canst pray, 
Deal, and do penance da}' and night ever. 
And purchase all the pardon of Pampeluna and of Rome, 
And indulgences enough, and be ingrate to thy kind, 
The Hol}^ Ghost heareth thee not, nor helpeth thee, be thou 
certain (C, XX., 216-220);— 

but it is found only in Dowel, Dobet, and Dobest; and having thus 
suggested the question, What are these? it is not strange that Langland 
devoted the major part of his poem, if not of his life, to answering it,. 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM I.ANGI.AND. 269 

"Without multiplying references, the general conclusion is that Dowel 
is to purify one's own life and action; Dobet is to care for the needs 
of others; Dobest is to act with authority, teaching, leading men 
toward the right, warning the doers of evil, and evidently involves 
something of clergy (learning). Hence, while to engage in priestly 
offices is Dowel and possibly Dobet, it is by no means necessarily 
Dobest. To apply this to Langland himself, in singing the seven 
psalms for the souls of the departed he was in accord with Dobet; 
but in writing the Vision of Piers Plowman he was most assuredly 
with Dobest. Thus did he carry the gospel among men; a gospel 
new in its application if not in its underlying principles. Without 
rejecting or questioning the doctrines of his church, he interpreted 
them in the light of a ^'clene conscience," and thus restored them 
often to their original simplicity and opened the way to the Reform- 
ation. 

Our Xeig:iii»Qi-. Passus X, of the poem may be called the doctrinal 
passus. One of the most moving and eloquent passages is that 
defining -'our neighebores" (C, X., 71-138) as '-'the most needy." 

Marriage. Marriage between the humble should be undertaken at 
the will of parents, and the counsel of friends, and then by assent of 
the parties concerned (B, IX., 112). It is unprofitable without off- 
spring (C, XIX., 222). The, law of heredity imposes on every one 
the greatest care in choosing a m.ate (C, XL, 233 ff.). There .is a 
time for marriage, and those conceived out of time become false folk 
and faithless, thieves and liars as was Cain (A, X., 127; C, XL, 202 
ff.). Good should wed good, though they no goods have, and those 
who marry for goods shall lead lives unlovely. Maidens should 
marry maidens, widowers widows, and every manner secular man may 
wed; a statement which Professor Skeat construes to include the 
secular clergy (Notes, 145). We have noted that hasty rnarriages 
abounded after the pestilence, and that divorces were not unknown 
(page 265). 

Unbelief. Idle scholastic discussion of matters connected with 
Scripture (C, XII., 35 ff.) and careless preaching have brought a 
lack of faith ih Holy Writ. Scripture should not be shown to those 
who love to raise idle questions, and preaching to those whose hearts 
are not ready to receive is useless. If it were not possible to dispute 
any of the teachings of Holy Church, if the truth of all were 
absolutely certain, one means of grace would be lost to man; there 
would no longer be any faith if faith were certainty (C, XII., 159). 

Predestination. If all that Scripture and Clergy teach be true, sal- 
vation will be impossible for many (C, XII., 201-223); ^o^ ^^^7 say 
that man's name is written in the book of life, or else not written, 



270 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

long before he is born. Perhaps for this reason, Solomon and Aris- 
totle are lost; if they wrought well, and are now in pain, it would be 
unwise for us to imitate them. Again Scripture teaches (C, XIII., 
40-60) that many were summoned to the feast, and only a few admit- 
ted. Will thereupon wonders whether he is chosen or not chosen, 
though he reflects that Holy Church had received him at the font for 
one of God's chosen. He concludes finally that Christ's invitation is 
for all who will; that all the world may claim and receive mercy 
through His blood and through baptism. No wicked man shall be 
lost but if he will (C, XV., 135); one thief upon the cross accepted 
Him; and if it be asked why the other did not, no clerk can tell. 

Charity. Theformal definition of Charity (C, XVII., 297 if.) was 
referred to in describing the good friar (page 263). Again (C, XIX) 
Freewill defines charity as the fruit of the tree of True T.ove, though 
before the discussion is well begun charity becomes the tree itself, 
and man the fruit. It is supported on three props representing the 
three persons of the Trinity; its blossoms are Kind Speech, its root 
Mercy, its stem Ruth or Pity, and its leaves the words of the law of 
Holy Church (Skeat, Notes, 235). Charity, represented by the Sa- 
maritan (C, XX., 46) and typifying Christ, saved the wounded man 
when Faith and Hope had passed by him. 

Cardinal ^^^ ^'^^^ cardinal virtues are prudence, temperance, for- 

Virtues. titude, and justice (C, XXII., 274). At the beginning of 
Passus XXIII. it is said that Necessity, or Need, is superior to all 
the virtues except temperance; and that in need one may not take 
counsel of Conscience. One may take meat to save life, when none 
will give, and the same is true of cloth and drink. Then follows a 
statement of the deficiencies of some of the virtues. Fortitude is apt 
to go too far or not far enough; justice has to be guided by the law, 
and prudence may make mistakes. Then we are told of the virtue of 
Need. It makes men hum.ble, was chosen by philosophers and by 
Christ, and will at last turn to joy; so shall one not be ashamed to 
beg and to be in want. The purpose of this remarkable passage 
may be to show the weakness of the excuses that have been put forth 
in the preceding passus by those who fail to observe the cardinal 
virtues, and to show what is the only valid excuse for a departure 
from what is commonly reckoned virtue. 

Commiinion. The Holy Communion may be received worthily only 
after restitution, implying the preceding steps, contrition and confes- 
sion. As to the Real Presence therein, God's body might not be of 
bread without clergy (B, XIL, 87). One is never right strong until 
he has eaten the body of Christ, and drunk His blood (C, XX., 87). 
The blessed bread conceals the body of God (C, XXII., 387). This. 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 27 I 

language might have been used by Wyclif, but there is no question 
as to Langland's simple acceptance of the church's teaching. 

4. LANGLAND'S PHILOSOPHY. 

Langland's work was intended to have a moral significance only. 
The efforts of the scholastics had been directed chiefly towards reduc- 
ing the vast mass of theological doctrine and dogma to something 
like system. We do not find that Langland is especially systematic; 
but we do find some traces of scholastic methods, as well as of schol- 
Scliolasticisni. astic conclusions. We might in fact say that the 
whole of the theological and religious teaching of which an exposition 
has been given is scholastic, so far as it is systematic and rea- 
soned out in all its parts. But what was scholastic in this respect 
was common property, and not distinctive of Langland; in fact, in 
his lack of system and in his belief that it is not possible to give rea- 
sons for all one's beliefs, he was decidedly unscholastic. He ad- 
vances many doctrines theological and doctrines religious, but as 
to their bearing upon each other he cares little. The curious ques- 
tions and conceits with which the mediaeval scholastics used to 
amuse themselves would certainly have been condemned by him 
(Page 269; C, XIL, 35 ff.). But to tell how two persons of the 
Trinity slew the third is irreverent rather than scholastic; and Lang- 
land himself asks many of the questions which used to engage 
their attention. Of such a nature perhaps are the questions. Why 
did Lucifer attempt to establish a kingdom in the north (C, IL, 
112)? Why was the Fall permitted (B, X., 105)? Why should men 
now suffer for the transgression of Adam (B, X., iii)? If Scripture 
be true, how can any rich man reach heaven (C, XIL, 200)? Why 
did one thief upon the cross repent and not the other (C, XV., 
154)? Are Solomon, Socrates, and Aristotle saved (C, XV., 
193)? Are there not also traces of scholasticism, perhaps of sophistry, 
in the doctor's argument (C, XVI., 172) with Patience; in the discus- 
sion between Lucifer, Satan, Goblin, and Christ (C, XXL, 272); 
and in the argument of Need (C, XXIL, 150)? In the latter case 
Langland seems to adopt as his own the reasoning which he uses; in 
the other case his attitude is shown by his placing the argument in 
the mouths of those whom he has already satirized, and by the 
formal remonstrance which he makes against empty discussions (C, 
XIL, 35). This important passage is made more significant by the 
fact that the remonstrance is made by Study, and is aimed at her 
husband, Wit, who has, nothing to say in self-defence. Hence we 
may conclude that exercising speculation without the direction of 
some safe guide, the Bible or the Fathers, is an indefensible thing. 



272 KANSAS LMVERSITV QUARTERLY. 

Wit must be directed by Study; Study must be occupied in a proper 
manner; questions that may not be answered must be passed by; and 
answers that may not be understood must be accepted on authority, 
by faith. 

L, an gland's Langland thinks too much and too widely not to 

mental habit. touch sometimes upon the questions of the physical 
and mental life of man. For instance, he wonders why man, with 
his double portion of intelligence, is so prone to make mistakes; while 
other animals with their lesser portion, always act rightly with refer- 
ence to their own interests (C, XIV., 143). Yet, recognizing the 
difference in phenomena he did not for a moment conceive a dis- 
tinction between instinct and reason, but immediately gave up the 
whole question, fearing that he was treading upon forbidden ground. 
But this speculative passage, though it ends in a stinging self-rebuke, 
shows that his mind is of too high an order to follow a beaten path 
without thinking what lay beyond it, and deepens our respect for his 
mental power. 

Langland's inveterate habit of personification sometimes leads to 
apparent confusion as to the meaning of terms; but in general his dis- 
tinctions are clear when his conceptions can be disentangled from 
their personal embodiment. The moral significance of his terms is 
to be taken into account along with their mental and physical mean- 
ing, as this moral meaning was to him their chief one. 
The :5ientai It seems probable that Langland's own ideas of the 
Faculties. meaning of the various names for the mental faculties 
were derived from the passage translated, not altogether accurately, 
in Passus XVII., (B, XV., 23; C, XVII., 182). The character called 
Anima in B. Freewill in C. is defined according to its various func- 
tions as Anima (the vital principle) when it quickens the body; Ani- 
mus (the reasoning principle or rational soul) when it will or would; 
Mens (the power of thought, the mind) when it understands or 
knows; Memoria, when it recalls what has taken place ("makes 
moan to God"); Ratio, when it judges: Sensus, when it feels 
and perceives ("and ihat is wit and wisdom, the well of all 
crafts"); Conscientia, when it challenges (claims or excuses) or 
challenges not, bargains for or refuses (accepts or refuses); x\mor, 
when it loves; Liberum arbitrium, when it will do or not do good 
deeds or ill (Lat. : turns from evil to the good>; and Spiritus, when it 
flees from the body and leaves it lifeless. In the B-text all these 
terms except Free Will are given as names for Anima; but in the 
C-text they are given as names for Free Will, which is inserted and 
made to assume undue importance. The B-text is most consistent 
with the Latin orisinal (Skeat, Notes, 215: C, XVII., 201), and with. 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OK WILLIAM LANGLAND. 273 

the present accepted interpretation of the terms used. To say that 
this is a list of the specific functions or faculties of the soul is com- 
prehensible; to say that the soul is a faculty of the will, and that the 
will is a faculty of itself, is to us nonsense. 
Anima, or In this passage we should have a guide to the philo- 
liife. sophical interpretation of several important characters. 

Anima is mentioned elsewhere (C, XI., 127 if.) as dwelling in a 
castle made of the four elements, earth, air, wind and water; 
she is dear to Kynde (interpreted as Nature, God) and is like Him. 
For safety she is placed in this castle whose lord is Dowel; his 
daughter Dobet is her servant; above both, peer of a bishop, is 
Dobest, her teacher, Invvit (Conscience) is constable of that castle; 
and with him are the other wits, his five sons, Seewell, Saywell, Hear- 
well, Workwell, and Goodfaith Gowell; — not exactly the five senses, 
but a conception of Langland's own of the agencies most likely to re- 
pel Satan. . 

The list of mental faculties given above is taken from Isidore 
(Skeat, Notes, 215). Following another source of popular philosophy, 
Langland says that Inwit is in the head and Anima in the heart. 
This statement is derived from Galen (Skeat, Notes, 140), who 
divides the functions into the vital, essential to life, whose seat is the 
heart; animal, perceived and subject to the will, whose seat is the 
head; natural, not perceived, whose seat is the liver. We are some- 
what at a loss to determine whether Langland regards Anima as the 
vital function simply, common to men and other animals; or whether 
it is with him the more exalted if indefinable conception called the 
soul. The first passage seems to subordinate it unduly; the second is 
indecisive until we are told that it is like Kynde. Since Kynde un- 
doubtedly means God in this case, possibly we here touch the higher 
conception. 

Conscience. If conscience is an animal function, subject to the 
will, we are likely to land in confusion; but probably in making its 
seat the head Langland did not intend to follow Galen any farther. 
Rather he views conscience as an intellectual faculty under Divine 
direction. He has drawn a broad line of demarcation between Anima 
and Conscience, whatever his reason may have been; and again it 
seems as though to him Anima could be little more than physical 
life. 

The character of Conscience as a moral teacher is one of the most 
consistently treated in the poem. Conscience is of the counsel of 
Truth, and cannot be deceived. Holy Writ is his guide upon doubt- 
ful points, but he insists upon a true interpretation. He is guided by 
JReason (C, V., 5) but is free to enlighten Reason before the latter 



2 74 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

gives his decision (C, V., 33). Their respective functions would 
seem at first to be those of counselor and magistrate, but eventually 
Reason is appointed chancellor, and Conscience royal justice (C, V., 
185), thus assigning them the same functions, but giving Reason the 
higher station. Again Reason is a pope, and Conscience bearer of 
his crosier (C, VI., 113). Thus Conscience seems to be made 
subject to the Bible, the Church and Reason. 

Throughout the rest of the poem, Conscience is the personal 
adviser, guide and director of men, and leader of the forces of Holy 
Church. It is always therefore that enlightened intellectual faculty 
which judges and directs with regard to moral matters; appearing 
most often as the accuser and public prosecutor of Wrong. 

Wit. We have next to distinguish Conscience or Inwit from 
Wit pure and simple. In Will's search for Dowel he follows a 
logically ascending scale of inquiry. First he meets Thought, and 
after receiving some information is directed to Wit; from Wit he 
passes to his wife. Study. Wit and Study should result in learning, 
and accordingly Study soon refers Langland to Clergy, whose wife, 
Scripture, (interpreted written knowledge) she has instructed (C, XL 
and XII). Advancing in this line of intellectual development, 
Langland raises so many objections to some of the teachings received 
that he is finally accused of seeking knowledge only to cavil at it, and 
further knowledge is refused him. This is true in all the texts except 
A. In this (Passus XII) Scripture takes pity on Will, and directs 
him to her cousin, Kynde Wit; a proceeding that is apparently, in one 
sense, sending him back whence he started. 

This sequence, with the exception of the fifth step of A, XII., 
which may be simply an inadvertence, becomes reasonably clear 
when examined by the light of the later definition of faculties. By 
comparing texts B and C, Thought is identified with Mens (C, XVII. , 
185; B, XV., 25), and Mens was defined as the mind, the funda- 
mental power which underlies all mental action. The only reference 
to Wit here given is in the definition of Sensus as ''whenne ich fele 
that folke telleth" and "that is witte and wisedome the welle of alle 
craftes." From this it appears that Wit means the mind as applied 
to the perception of truth, either mental or physical. Thought is the 
instrument. Wit its natural use. Wit applied to books becomes 
Study; the books are Scripture; the result of the application is 
Clergy. 

What, then, is meant by Kynde Wit if it is not synonymous with 
Wit as already defined? The way to it is to be pointed out by the 
guide *'Prove-all-things, " until the seekers reach the burg, ''Hold- 
fast-that-which-is-good." This seems to be the road to natural 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 275 

wisdom, or common sense, as distinguished from clergy; the wisdom 
of experience; and probably this is the answer to the question. 
• Reason. Reason is defined as the faculty which may ''deme domes 
and do as treuthe techeth " and this is in general consistent with the 
character as introduced through the poem. It is a righteous judge 
which interprets and applies law, particularly the law of God. In 
this capacity is its first appearance at the trial of Meed, and Con- 
science is accuser, also according to the formal definition. Reason, 
the preacher (C, VI., 114), interprets the law with reference to the 
pestilences, and the duty of men in relation thereto. 

There is temporary confusion between reason and instinct when 
Langland wonders why reason gives to animals more assistance than 
to men; as though he really believed that animals could ponder and 
decide. But in reproving Langland for his questions (C, XIV., 196) 
Reason appears as judge; and even his silent departure with Piers 
Plowman from the dinner of Clergy, Conscience and the Doctor (C, 
XVI., 151) may be interpreted as a decision. 

In summary, mind is that which receives ivnowledge; wit the 
phannel through which knowledge comes, conscience the perception 
of it as right or wrong, reason the judge of its actual value, study is a 
second means used to obtain it (the first is wit or natural observation 
or perception); nature is one source of information, scripture another; 
the result from the first source of information is Kynde Wit, from the 
second, clergy. 

Free ^Vill. The greatest difficulty lies in interpreting Langland's 
conception of Free Will in the relation implied between Free Will and 
the other faculties. In the C-text Free Will is made the fundamental 
power, of which all the other faculties are manifestations; while in 
the B-text, Anima is the fundamental, and Free Will is not mentioned 
at all until we come to the description of the tree of Charity, which 
grows in a garden, the heart, in man's body; and Free Will is the 
farmer of that garden under Piers Plowman. In each text Free Will 
is the defender of the fruit of the tree against the Fiend; but in the 
C-text he acts in addition for a long time as preacher, teacher and 
guide. It is perhaps consistent to make Free Will a guide; but as to 
the other attributes here ascribed, it seems that Langland must be 
enlarging a certain part of his definition (that which will or will not 
do good deeds or evil, or that which turns from evil to the good) so 
as to make it cover the whole field of Conscience and Reason. In 
doing this he has lost sight of the distinctive function of the will, 
th^t of choosing, perhaps because he thinks that a choice involves 
the exercise of reason, conscience and the other faculties. In short 
it appears that he has come to a false conclusion with regard to the 



276 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

nature of the will; and that the power he ascribes to it should really 
be ascribed to the soul, Anima; and we have here a further reason 
for supposing that with him the name Anima means simply vital 
action. This conception of Anima is consistent with so much of his 
Latin original as he gives in English: but in itself and in its relation 
to the will it is not consistent with the meaning of the passage 
as he gives it in Latin. I conclude that he may sometimes 
be at fault as to the meaning of terms, but that having 
taken his stand, whether upon a misconception or otherwise, he 
stands with reasonable firmness and is in general consistent with 
himself. And the clearest exposition of mental science in the four- 
teenth century was not likely to be particularly clear to one who 
approached the subject in a casual way, with the sole object of adding 
a new illustration to a popular treatment of an entirely different 
subject. 



The Form (3f the Poem. 

Visions. It has been said that a park and a vision constitute the 
stock mechanism of the literary compositions of the fourteenth cent- 
ury. Langland's method differs from the conventional method in 
that it makes more of the vision and less of the park than is usual. 
The whole work is a series of visions, and the moments of waking 
are so few and unimportant as scarcely to be noticeable. Where 
they are noticeable, they are often suggestive of the park, that is of the 
outer air, of the free life that the author must have lived at some 
early time; they breathe an atmosphere of the hills and woods, 
though even in this respect they produce an effect that is still con- 
ventional. 

At other times the visions suggest what is not at all conventional: 
that the author's contemplative habits were productive of sluggishness. 
It seems strange that a person of his reverent habits should twice 
represent himself as going to sleep in church, unless such an occur- 
rence was not altogether unknown in his actual experience: and we 
are reminded of Sloth who went to sleep during his own confession. 

From another standpoint the structure of the poem as a series of 
visions is fortunate. Langland's work, regarded as a whole, lacks 
consistency; whether we take into account the central character or 
the minor ones; and even where he strove to secure consistency, we 
have seen that his success was not complete. But in a vision, entire 
consistency is not necessary; and in a series of them, the way is open 
for the author to follow his fancy whither he will, and to cast to the 
winds all the rules of unity and proportion and sequence; while we 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 277 

Still have no difficulty in gathering the specific lessons which Lang- 
land teaches in specific places. 

Through the whole composition it is evident that the poem was 
really a growth, not a structure; or if a structure, put together in a 
childlike way; and the efforts to reduce it to structural beauty and 
proportion, while partly successful, were an afterthought. 

Allegory. After the visions the allegories are the most prominent 
features, and here again Langland is following the example of others. 
But Langland carries his personifications farther than any other has 
done, except Bunyan; while he deals largely with the abstract and 
the ideal, he loves to make it as concrete and as tangible as possible. 

quotations. There is really more of originality and more of the 
spirit of the coming Reformation in his liberal use of quotations. 
His purpose was twofold; to show that his own teaching was in no 
sense revolutionary, but in accordance with the standard of the 
church; and to make the teaching of the church plain to all. To this 
latter end he translated the passages used, interpreted, commented, or 
preached from them as texts, and in a homely fashion that the 
simplest could understand. And while he could not place the Bible 
itself in the hands of the people, he did what he could toward that 
end, and approved the efforts of those who aimed to do more. 
Looking at the quotations simply, we might regard the whole poem as a 
series of sermons bearing upon daily duty as the chief topic, and even 
the metrical form and the imagery were well adapted to make the 
sermons effective; probably more so than Langland knew when he 
began to write. 

Similes and The poem abounds in similes, proverbs, parables 
Proverbs. ^^^^ puns, of which a fairly complete list is given in 
the index to Professor Skeat's edition. From Langland we may 
learn the origin of many expressions that are current in popular 
speech, if not in literature; as for instance, the supposedly profane 
expression ''not worth a curse," proves to be the eminently fit and 
sensible remark, "not worth a'cress" (C, XIl., 14V Others especi- 
ally striking are, "to have pepper in the nose" (B, XV., 197) for, to 
be angry; "measuring the mist on Malvern Hills" (C, L, 163) as 
preferable to meeting an attorney without money in hand; the familiar 
and mysterious saying, "as dead as a doornail" (C, H., 184), and the 
negative and ironical expressions, "as courteous as a hound in a 
kitchen" (B, V., 261), "as becometh a cow to hop in a cage" (R, 
HI,, 262). These sayings and proverbs almost without exception 
wear the aspect of current coin of the realm, and add to the effective- 
ness of the pictures of common life. 



278 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

Parables. Many of the parables are directly Scriptural. Of 

others one of the most pleasing and instructive is that of the merchant 
and the messenger (C, XIV., ^;^) which is probably Langland's own, 
and is no less significant literally than figuratively in regard to what 
may be called the laws of the road. Short but exceedingly happy is 
the friar's illustration of the wagging boat (C, XL, 32) by which it is 
conclusively shown how one may meet with many mishaps in religious 
life and yet be saved. 

Funs. Plays upon words are not so nunierous as might be ex- 
'pected. As good as any, though probably not original, ar.-; the com- 
parison of words and worts (vegetables; B, V., 162), and that carried 
out at length (C, XVIII., 200) where the cross upon the reverse of 
the red noble is said to take the place of the cross of Christ in the 
worship of many. 

The riddles, i")arables and puns illustrate rather Langland's close 
relation to the people than the peculiar character of his mind. ^Vhere 
the thought is more elevated they are fewer, but they sometimes occur 
where Langland is pressing most earnestly forward; and in such places 
they are evidently spontaneous and unstudied. This can hardly be 
said of such efforts as that to illustrate the difference between reward 
and bribery by the relations of grammar. 

Sti'ucture of The general structure of the allegory is as follows: 
Allegory. First we have a picture of the world, which is given 
over to the lust for money and to the seven deadly siris. 'Lhose 
who realize the condition of affairs and long for a better estate are 
guided in their search for it by a humble plowman, until they learn 
that deliverance lies in Dowel. The author, as one of them, then 
begins a search for Dowel, Dobet and Dobest, as three stages of the 
way to holiness, and in the search meets various personages who 
question his motive, the road he is taking, his haste to reach the end 
of his journey. Each affords him all the help possible, but all are 
not in agreement. Finally attention is directed to Christ and His 
teaching as the culmination of Dowel, Dobet and Dobest; His cruci- 
fixion and resurrection are related; Conscience becomes the leader 
of His forces upon €arth, and is sore besieged by Anti-Christ. 

Allegoi'ical A minor point noticeable in Langland's method is the 
Xames. length of the names often bestowed upon persons and 
places. Piers Plowman's wife (C, X., 80) is " Work-when-time-is;" 
her daughter, " Do-right-so-or-thy-dam-shall-thee-beat;" her son, 
*' Suffer-thy-sovereigns-have-their-will-, judge-them-not-, for-if-thou- 
do-thou-shalt-dearly-pay." In one instance (C, VII., 310) the name 
of a Welshman extends for several lines. 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 279 

Obscurities. In its final form, the poem contains many obscurities 
due to various causes; some of them grammatical merely and due to 
carelessness or oversight. One passage seems faulty in every text 
(C, IV., 77-89, and parallels) because of the omission of the chief 
verb; but the fault in this case does not lead to obscurity. Lack of 
consistency in characterization is another source of difficulty; another 
seems due to sheer forgetfulness, as when the author goes to sleep on 
Malvern Hills and wakes up in London; in interpolating a pas- 
sage he has neglected to ascertain what was the scene of the part 
into which it was interpolated. Lastly may be mentioned the riddles. 
What is intended as a puzzle may not be open to criticism because it 
is puzzling, but at least one of these is now inexplicable (B, XIIL, 
150-T56; Skeat, Notes, 196) because of 'the impossibility of tracing 
the contemporary references. But Langland's puzzles and inconsist- 
encies are not greater than those of Gower, w^ho introduces into his 
work matters irrelevant or contradictory and -illustrations that fit '' as 
the fist does the eye" (Ten Brink, Eng. Lit., p. 135); and if Gower 
represents uninspired scholarship, Langland's humble inspiration 
without scholarship is preferable. 

The Spirit of the Poem. 

Influences Up- Langland is distinguished from his great contempor- 
ontiiePoem. ^j-[q^ ^s being of the priesthood and people, but not of 
the court; and this might be inferred from his language. Latin is 
used freely, while French appears but seldom, and French influence 
is slight, appearing about equally in language and subject matter. 
The growing lack of appreciation of French and the French people 
among the lower classes is clearly reflected, although Langland prob- 
ably did not share in it himself. With regard to his subject, there 
was no other' than a religious one for Langland with his narrower 
horizon when even Gower and Chaucer with their wider range of 
thought were constrained to treat it: Chaucer lightly and satirically, 
a touch here and there, Gower with all the intensity of which he 
was capable in the "Vox Clamantis." For Langland living in the 
fourteenth century and close to the hearts of the people as well as to 
their unhappy lives there was but one voice, the same voice of one 
crying in the wilderness, uttered in the language of the people. How 
far-reaching were the results of this utterance we may only infer from 
the popular uprisings that accompanied and the Reformation that 
followed it, though both uprisings and Reformation were led by 
others. Its poetic form was that usually chosen by those who had a 
message for the people not to be delivered from the pulpit; the form 



28o KA3JSAS UXIVZRSITY QUARTERLY. 

which wonld ensure its sinking deep and circulating widely. And 
even in returning toward the Old English standard in the structure of 
his verse, Langland was not merely rejecting the newer French fash- 
ions; he was appealing still more directly to the popular sympathy. 

PaDrp«se. Langland, having convictions, believed it his duty to 
teach them to the people, and deliberately chose means to this end. 
His sole reference to his authorship of poetry, his ''makynges" (B, 
XIL, 15-29), speaks of it as recreation, resorted to that he may be 
more perfect in his more serious duties; and he quotes to his ques- 
tioner, in justification, the examples of holy men. But this is merely 
deprecation. It occurs in the B-text, which must have been written 
= r:r: a conviction fully formed that this was .iir 5er::.is work of his 

It iad the holy fathers referred to were not in the habit of wasting 
c^ ea iheir moments of recreation in work that had no serious pur- 
pose. Langland felt that he must speak; and his first utterance was 
dictated by the desire to speak to the people as they spoke to each 
other, or as they were addressed by those who showed most power 
to interest them; and with this restriction, the Vision of Piers Plow- 
man was, in its earlier form, a spontaneous outpouring. 

Baurmestmcss. Of its earnestness and depth of feeling with, as well 
as for, those in bondage to sin, harsh laws and a corrupt clergy, there 
can be no doubL Scarcely another quality could be so profusely 
illustrated as this. Langland has his lighter moments as we shall see; 
but through all his purpose is distinct; and though he may cause others 
to smile, the smile is never rejected upon his own face. Through his 
pages, as through the streets of London, he strides, turning not to 
give place to any, making obeisance to none; we may laugh or we 
may tremble at his words, but while we laugh or tremble, he has passed 
on about the business whereto his Master sent him. 

imsiskt. His practical insight, as distinguished from his philo- 
sophical insight, was grea:. He sees the good about him as well as 
the evil; there are worthy as well as criminal poor; there are charitable 
bishops as well as avaricious ones. But the good needs not the same 
emphasizing as the bad, and does not receive iL The causes of evil 
as well as the evil itself are apparent to him; he finds them not only 
in high places, but among the people themselves; not king and church 
only are responsible for lack of bread, but often the careless improvi- 
dence of the breadwinners. And if he does not suggest cures for all that 
z^ziii cure, he points out a better road, a road that has since been 
It ' the way of Holy Writ; and most of all, he avoids the way 
or comrxitinism and anarchy, even though many thought they read of 
it in his work and some therefore ventured to walk in it. 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF JVILLIAM LANGLAND. 281 

The Prophe- ^s to his insight into the future a question may 

cies. fairly be raised. He believed it impossible to forecast, 

and yet has sometimes used the style of prophecy, though whether in 
earnest or in satire it is not always easy to say. One such passage 
(C, IV., 440-485) is rather a picture of what Langland hopes for than 
a prediction that it will take place. The picture bears a general re- 
semblance to the millennium, and to show that it is distant he says 
that all Jews and Saracens shall first be converted. Another passage 
of similar character describes the time when Wrong may be pardoned 
(C, v., 108). Another (C, IX., 348-355) Professor Skeat believes 
to be merely a satire upon mysterious forms of prophecy then in 
vogue; it refers to a time of famine and pestilence when Death shall 
withdraw and Dearth be justice and Dawe the ditcher shall die for 
default (of food) unless God of His goodness grant us a truce. It 
contains an inexplicable riddle and a reference to the malign aspect of 
Saturn, and is almost too astrological to be seriously spoken. 

But there is no doubt as to the seriousness of a passage which con- 
tains no riddles nor astrology (C, VI., 169): — 

And yet shall come a king and confess you all 
And beat jou as the Bible telleth for breaking of j^our rule, 
And amend you, monks, nuns, and canons. 
And put you to your penance, to return to your former state,^ 
And barons and their children blame you and reprove, 
Some trust in chariots and some in horses. . . . They are brought down and 

fallen. 
Friars in their refectory shall find at that time 
Hread without begging to live b}' ever after, 

And Constantine shall be their cook and coverer of their church: 
For the Abbot of England, and the abbess his niece 

Shall have a knock on their crowns, and incurable the wound; . . 

The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked, and the sceptre of the rulers .... irith 

a continual stroke, 
But before that king shall come as chronicles tell, 
Clerks and holy church shall be clothed new. 

Here, though Langland may show no prophetic insight, simply 
enunciating, as Professor Skeat says, an opinion generally current 
with reference to the power of the king, the expression must remain 
noteworthy, both for its power and dignity and for the manner in 
which it was fulfilled in the time of Henry VIII. 

Independence Langland's independence of opinion and judgment 
and Courage. is attested in every line of bis work. As to the pro- 
claiming of his convictions, which must often have had to do with 
individuals as well as doctrines, his practice varies. Sometimes he 
hesitates to push his teaching to its logical conclusion, exclaiming that 

* Italicised passages are in Latin in ori2;inal. 



282 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

he dares not (B, pr., 209), or that he that speaks most trul)^ is soonest 
blamed; while again he challenges the acts of the bishop of Syria who 
looks like a real individual (C, XVIII. , 278), impeach s the king him- 
self (C, IV., 210), and fears not the death at the stake (B, XV., 81). 

Conservatism. But the key to it all lies in his conservatism. It 
is not that he ever fears to speak because of any personal danger that 
may come to him; for religious persecution had not yet become severe, 
and he is most daring with regard to political matters where perhaps 
the danger of free speech was greatest, at least to those outside of the 
church. He hesitates to speak because he does not wish to disturb 
the established order, political or religious, but only to eradicate the 
abuses that have crept in; and if he should say all that he might, he 
might incite men to deeds that he does not approve, and be held re- 
sponsible for a meaning and for results that he does not intend. 

Ima°-inative- ^^^ imaginative faculty is fanciful rather than in- 

nessandOrigi- ventive, and is not strongly developed even in that 
"^ * ^' direction. He sees facts and can depict them; he can 

reproduce pictures that others have painted, with slight variations of 
detail that serve to simplify rather than to elaborate; but in the do- 
main of actual invention he is not at home. In his passages pertain- 
ing to Heaven and Hell, he leaves no actual picture in our minds, but 
simply enumerates the matters he wishes to bring before us. But in 
approaching nearer to things terrestrial the play of his fancy becomes 
greater and his work correspondingly more artistic. 

Accordingly, his originality consists chiefly in the independence of 
view already mentioned, and in the vividness and power with which 
he treats of familiar matters, particularly those derived from his own 
experience. As to the actual subject matter, apart from his method 
.of treatment, there is little or nothing not directly traceable to some 
outside source, except these facts of experience; and even his method 
is often borrowed. It is because of this that we learn that he had 
read some books, and seen some things that he never mentions 
directly. This is of course practically restating that his work shows 
fancy rather than imagination. The character called Imaginative shows 
less of imaginativeness than any other if that be possible, it is purely 
didactic; while many others are introduced with personal description. 

Attitude to- Langland's allusions to women are in proportion 

ward iVomen. few, whether allegorical or real. The Lady Meed is 
first and most conspicuous; the female penitent representing Pride, 
Study, Scripture, Holy Church, Anima, and some minor characters 
practically complete the list. To these may be added a few refer- 
ences to his own wife and daughter, and to the women of London. 
His attitude toward the least of them is respectful; and in what he 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 2^3 

says of Study and of his own wife he gives rise to the suspicion that 
in their presence he was humble as well as respectful. His feminine 
characters are no more puppets than are his masculine ones; he 
endows them with characteristics equally positive, we may say equally 
masculine; and from the lack of femininity we might infer either that 
Langland knew little of women, or that those he knew best were of an 
exceedingly positive type. In the familiar yet respectful leavetaking 
between Will and Scripture (A, XII., 38-48) we doubtless have the 
custom of the time. 

u^it Satire ^^^ satire in Langland's work constitutes one of 

Huiiioi'. its strongest and most entertaining characteristics, 

naturally most often manifested in the attacks upon wrong, but in all 
its intensity never anything but kindly and wholesome. Usually the 
subject is treated in a manner too incisive to be called liumorous, 
though always witty if we make the formal distinction (See Hunt, 
Eth. Teachings in O. E. Lit., p. 248); but the sense*of humor is often 
present and sometimes becomes so prominent that the reader must 
smile, though he may never suspect the author of smiling. Of such 
a character is Meed's half-text (C, IV., 489) to which Conscience 
supplies the important remainder giving the true meaning; Avarice's 
interpretation of restitution to mean robbery (C, VIII., 234-238); 
the friar's ready claim that Dowel dwells with ''ous freres " (C, XI., 
18), and the knight's assistance of Piers against Wastour, which was 
so exceedingly ''courteous as his kind would" as to be entirely 
ineffectual. Many descriptive passages are characterized by a sus- 
tained humor throughout, as the description of Sloth and Glutton, 
and the account of the doctor at dinner (C, XVI). 

Descriptive '^^^ portion of the poem which is most often 

Power. referred to, the description of the field full of folk, is 

not so good from an artistic standpoint as many others; it is more 
interesting as illustrating the character of Langland's imagination 
and giving a hint at what the completed poem is to be. It-is a cata- 
logue rather than a picture; yet the field and the tower and the deep 
dale are so clearly defined that our imagination completes what 
Langland left unfinished; and the highest art could do no more. 
The proposed marriage and the trial of Lady Meed which follow are 
again less remarkable for accuracy than for force; the^force due to 
earnestness of intention, and what may be termed massiveness of 
presentation, and the effect heightened by the striking transition from 
country to city. 

But when we reach the confessions of the seven deadly sins, Lang- 
land's work cannot be surpassed for wit and for close accuracy of 
portraiture, The scenes already mentioned may have been founded 



284 KANSAS UMVERSITV QUARTERLY. 

on events that came under Langland's observation but infrequently; 
a miracle play, a wedding on some country estate, a trial at West- 
minster; but now we are dealing with matters that touch his daily 
experience. 

Only quotation can do justice to the personal descriptions here 
given; as for example that of Avarice, with his beetle-brows, thick lips, 
flabby cheeks, half-shaven chin, head twice covered with hood and 
with hat, and garment so threadbare as to be an unsafe promenade 
for insects. The account of the means by which Avarice made his 
money follows, and is so circumstantial as to prove beyond a doubt 
that Langland was speaking whereof he knew; and the length with 
which he dwells upon this topic shows it to be a favorite one. 

The best character sketch of the entire poem is that which follows, 
the description of Glutton (C, VIL, 350) at the tavern. Glutton may 
not be in his own person so much of a wit as the Sir John Falstaff to 
whom Professor Skeat compares Liar, but he shows many similar 
characteristics, and will serve well as the literary predecessor of Sir 
John. The glutton of Shakespeare's day was undoubtedly a more in- 
tellectual animal than the glutton of Langland's time. The account 
of the game of barter at the tavern (the Freimarkt), the subsequent 
fate of Glutton, and his tardy repentance give a most graphic and 
amusing picture of the common life of common people on its lighter 
side. 

Of a different character, but still witty and diverting, is the account 
of Piers Plowman in the field and his efforts to make some use of 
several of the repentant sinners, who prove to be obstinate and unman- 
ageable. Yet the author never relaxes for a moment, nor does he 
allow his reader to forget the terrible earnestness that underlies it all; 
and not the least charm of his wit and satire is its apparent uncon- 
sciousness. 

We come to a picture of the darker side (C, X., 71), of the suffer- 
ings of the very poor, spoken no longer in satire but in the keenest 
pity, the pity of one who had perhaps himself known what it was to 
lack food and fire and covering: — 
.-"*--' Ruth is 10 read, or la ryme shew 

The woe of these women that dwell in cots, 
And of many other mea that much woe suffer, 
Both a-hungered and a-thirst, yet turn the fair outward 
And are abashed to beg. 

Moving as it is, we feel grateful to Langland for giving as an ob- 
verse to the tales of tricksters and cheats this picture of poverty, 
abject, but honest and self-respecting. 

The account of the dress and habits of Haukyn is less striking than 
tljose mentioned, chiefly because of the more free introduction of 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 285 

allegorical teaching. From this point on, the religious teaching 
becomes more and more prominent, and the descriptions carry with 
them a greater weight of meaning and become in this sense more 
impressive. Langland is not a Milton, yet he can rise to a certain 
simple sublimity of his own that is suggestive of Bunyan, if not of 
Milton. There is much in the mechanism of the poem that sug- 
gests Bunyan; as the account of the castle of Anima, and the 
adventures on the way to Kynd Wit (A, XII., 56). The author's 
dramatic power is shown in the account of the dinner of Conscience, 
Clergy and the Doctor with Reason; even the Latin is, not without 
its effect here, though the appearance of Piers Plowman is forced and 
unnecessary. Of the remaining portions, the most noteworthy from 
our present point of view are the account of the crucifixion (C, XX), 
the conquering of Hell (C, XXI), the building of Piers' barn (C, 
XXII), and in fact the whole of the last passus, which shows more of 
originality if not more of power than the account of the harrowing 
of hell. 

In summary Langland's descriptive power is noticeable, as 
might be expected, in those things with which he was most familiar, — 
scenes of common life in city or country, and the thmgs in which he 
was most deeply interested, — the passion and mission of Christ. Of 
actual invention there is little; and his power, while unquestionable, 
is not die to any attempt at art, but is incident to the directness and 
earnestness of his purpose. As examples of his most artistic work at 
its two extremes, I prefer the description of Glutton and that of the 
siege of Holy Church in the last passus, because in both the author 
himself is distinctly present, and the two most opposite sides of his 
character are clearly revealed: his brightest humor and his deepest 
sadness. 

Scholarship. Touching the question of Langland's education and 
scholarship (See p. 234, and Ten Brink, Early Eng. Lit., p. 352) the 
list of Langland's positive attainments includes, besides English 
Grammar and English Law, Latin, and something of French; but 
nothing at all of Greek. He had access to a few books only, and 
beyond that source his knowledge was for the most part that which 
was common property among thinking men. 

I find the total number of distinct quotations in the poem to be 
about 475. Of these, 368. are directly from the Vulgate, and 29 
more are probably from the same source, but are inexactly given. 
Of the remaining 75, 11 are from the services of the church, 5 from 
Latin hymns, 5 from the Legenda Aurea of Jacobus de Voragine, 18 
from the church fathers, Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory, and other 
church writers: 9 from the Disticha de Moribus ad Filium of Dion- 



'^86 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

ysius Cato, 3 from the Historia Scholastica of Peter Comestor, 2 and 
perhaps more from the Compendium of Peter Cantor; and one each 
from Boethius, Vincent of Beauvais, Juvenal, and others; besides 
several which Professor Skeat has been unable to trace, three or four of 
them in French in leonine verse, perhaps of Langland's composition. 
In addition there are a very large number of general allusions to these 
and other literary sources (See Piers Plowman, E. E. T. S. edition. 
Vol. IV., Section I., p. 512). Many of Langland's direct references 
to authorities are inexact, and he often gives the sense of authors 
quoted rather than their exact words, showing that reference to orig- 
inals was not always easy; while the fewness of the errors in the 
references to the Vulgate speaks well for the power of his memory. 
It is probable that the list given comprises more works than vy-ere 
actually in Langland's reach, and that he knew most of the authors 
he cites from some collection of extracts. Especially do his references 
to the classics wear an aspect of being second hand. 

Besides the few bits of French verse which may have been com- 
posed by Langland himself, there are several allusions and several 
resemblances of structure or action which suggest a knowledge of 
French works; especially Grosteste's " Chastel d'Amour," which may 
have been read in English translation, Huon de x^Ieri's '-'Tornoiment 
de TAntichrist," and Rutebuef's "La Voie de Paradis." Farther, in 
many instances the scene and action of the poem show conclusively 
that Langland was familiar with the stage representations of religious 
mysteries. 

His references to Greek authors are undoubtedly conventional or 
second hand (Plato, C, XII., 304; Aristotle, C, XV., 184). He 
mistranslates the name of Christ (C, XXII., 15), again misled by 
convention: and there was noticed an instance of departure from the 
exact meaning of a Latin original (Page 272). Occasionally he 
seems to have turned an ordinary saying into Latin on his own 
account, as if to give it greater weight. 

From the preceding it seems that we may draw one new conclusion; 
that if these references and citations indicate the full scope of Lang- 
land's reading and literary training, his poetic faculty must certainly 
have been an inborn one. It is of course probable that he was 
familiar with English poetical versions of the legends and stories of 
which he makes continual use, as well as with popular versions of 
parts of the Scripture narrative, such as the Cursor Mundi, and the 
Miracle Plays. But the fact that he does not quote from these would 
indicate that he has received from them no distinct impression of 
poetical form, while the character of his versification and imagery 
and his return to alliteration furnish stronger evidence toward the 



HOPKINS: CHARACTER AND OPINIONS OF WILLIAM LANGLAND. 287 

same point. The church fathers could never have made Langland a 
poet; but a reflective habit and a sympathetic and earnest disposition 
aided by a ready ear, a quick wit, a retentive memory, and the study 
of men as well as of books, could and did. 

His legallearning was extensive, appearing in the form of copious 
allusions to facts of law so exact as to indicate more than common 
familiarity. Many of these are of a character to be picked up easily 
by attendance at courts; others, such as the knowledge of legal forms, 
imply some study and practice. Perhaps he was more thafi a looker 
on at Westminister; at least he must have attended there, probably 
for the purpose of acquiring knowledge that would be of practical 
use outside, as well as a knowledge of human nature; and had any oc- 
cupation offered itself there, he would doubtless have seized upon it 
and turned it to good account. 

As to the source of Langland's literary and religious training, I find 
that in my own mind, in the light of the preceding" investigation, 
opinion has deepened into positiveness that he never saw the inside of 
university walls, scarcely even as a casual visitor. The list just given 
of his positive attainments would not of itself afford satisfactory evi-. 
deuce on either side; what he knew he might have learned within a uni- 
versity, though a student as earnest and conscientious as Langland 
should it seems have learned more and learned it more systematically. 
And even if university training was not so systematic in Laftgland's 
time as it has since become, there is still nothing in Langland's stocky 
of knowledge which he could not have gained in the ordinary monastic 
schools and from contact with men. 

But the strongest argument is that there is nowhere in either text 
the slightest reference to any university, or the slightest reflection of 
university life. The scene of the poem taken as a whole does re- 
flect, unless with this exception, all the life that Langland had pre- 
sumably lived; there are the fields and hills and streams of his boy- 
hood days, and there are the crowded streets and questionable tavern 
society' of London, the greedy crowd of the law court, and the rever- 
ent throng at the church. There is ample support for the common 
theory as to Langland's connection with the church and his position 
in it. If therefore we find all this reflected even to detail, and know- 
that to Langland the place of study was a heaven upon earth, I cannot 
escape the conclusion that even a brief experience of university life 
would have so impressed itself upon his mind that we should have evi- 
dence of it again and again. Not finding this evidence I conclude 
that Langland's education, after a comparatively early age, was due 
to his own unaided efforts. A self taught man might easily feel the 
pride in a little knowledge of grammar and of French that he allows 



288 KANSAS UNIVERSITY QUARTERLY. 

himself to show; yet a diligent man among such associations as his 
might learn all that he knew. Tnat he did develop himself so fully in 
despite of difficulties, causes us to honor yet more highly the humble 
student who was greater than any learned doctor of his time, save one 
alone. 

The Value of the Poem. 

Pa*t influ- The influence of the Vision concerning Piers the 
ence. and pi-es- Plowman in helping to bring about a political up- 
heaval that pointed the way to a religious revolution is 
historical and needs no restatement. Wyclif quoted from Langland.. 
and both Langland and Wyclif were misinterpreted by many wrong 
headed ones whose efforts to hasten the coming of Langland's mil 
lennium, when *•' shall neither king nor knight, constable nor magis- 
trate, overburden the commons," materiall)' retarded its advance. 
Thus the greatest immediate influence of the work was in a direction 
that its author neither contemplated nor desired; but though centuries 
were heeded for the accomplishment of its true purpose and that ac- 
complishment involved more than the dreamer dreamed, we may feel 
that Piers Plowman did return to Holy Church and that the work of 
Langland was the first step toward his returning. 

To us the work is of immeasurable value as a storehouse of infor- 
mation: and the feeling of each student of it must be that a lifetime is 
scarcely sufficient for the full interpretation of a work upon the mere 
text of which one scholar has already expended half a lifetime. 



